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THE RELATION OF THE STATE TO 
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 
IN MASSACHUSETTS 







Av OF PRINg 
Sy “7G 

FEE 25 1907. 
“yy : 


Ad 
BY / 7, OGICAI. eA 


SHERMAN M. SMITH, Pu.D. 


ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF HISTORY 
IN COLGATE UNIVERSITY 


SYRACUSE, N.Y. 
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY BOOK STORE 
1926 


CopyRIGHT, 1926, 
By SHERMAN M. SmiI1TH 


THE PLIMPTON PRESS 
NORWOOD:MASS:U°:S:A 


PREFACE 


THE renewed interest in the necessity of religious educa- 
tion as a basis for wholesome civic life in a democracy has 
raised anew the question of the proper relation of the state 
to such education. A cosmopolitan people of many shades 
of religious belief cannot practically agree on the teaching 
of one religious faith by the authority of the state. Nor 
can the state monopolize the schools and exclude all re- 
ligion from them without trampling on the rights of minor- 
ities to its own detriment. 

That the problem is not at present an academic one ap- 
pears from the recent attempts to make unconstitutional 
private schools, which are mainly religious ones, in Michi- 
gan and Oregon; from the question raised in Tennessee as 
to the right of a state to prohibit teaching of scientific 
theories contrary to the religious tenets of the majority; 
from the court decision in Mt. Vernon, New York, prohibit- 
ing the teaching of religion in private religious education 
schools on school time for school credit ; and from recurring 
attempts in various states to make daily Bible reading com- 
pulsory in public schools. 

Massachusetts has been a state which has blazed the way 
as a pioneer in educational progress. Likewise it has long 
had a cosmopolitan population. Hence an historical study 
of the way in which this type state has attempted to solve 
the problem historically is of interest to all who are con- 
- cerned in the present problem. Religion has been so inti- 
mately connected with education in this Puritan common- 
wealth, that it has been found necessary to examine the 
entire educational legislation of the state and write virtually 
a history of education in the state. To trace the religious 
content in the schools supported by the state, an interesting 
study of old texts and school catalogues has been made. 


ill 


IV Preface 


The determination of the extent of public support of semi- 
naries and colleges including religious elements in their 
instruction has likewise necessitated a considerable in- 
vestigation into the history of the seminaries of the state. 
Unfortunately no general history of all these institutions, 
which in an earlier age contributed so much to the manhood 
and womanhood of America, has ever been written. The 
controversies of the Horace Mann period were so largely 
religious that the newspapers of the period and unpublished 
letters of Mann have been used to throw light upon the real 
issues involved. Since the Mann period the chief problems 
have concerned the separation of the state from religious 
education of any type, due to the mutual jealousies of 
Protestants, Catholics, and Jews. An attempt has been 
made to explain the present attitude of these groups. 

The purpose has been by these means to discover to what 
extent religious education has been promoted, controlled, or 
in any way influenced by the state from the original settle- 
ment of Massachusetts to the present time. Religious edu- 
cation is conceived in its broader aspects as any influences 
of a religious character which are purposely directed toward 
the education of the individual. Religious control of secular 
education does not fall within the scope of our subject ex- 
cept as it affects the education of a religious character. 

The material on which this book is based was gathered 
primarily for the writing of a doctoral dissertation at Clark 
University, upon which a degree was granted in 1925. 

The thanks of the author are particularly due to Dr. 
George H. Blakeslee of the Department of History and 
International Relations and to Dr. William H. Burnham of 
the Department of Education and School Hygiene of 
Clark University for their kindly inspiration and wise 
counsel; to Librarian Clarence S. Brigham and the staff 
of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, for 
their aid in securing most of the material on which the 
study has been based; to G. E. Wire, LL.B., Librarian, 
and Miss L. L. Kirschner, Assistant, of the Worcester 


Preface Vv 


County Law Library; and to numerous individuals who 
have cordially answered requests for information. The 
Library of the Massachusetts Historical Association and 
the Boston Public Library have furnished important in- 
formation not elsewhere available. Use has also been made 
of the extensive collection of educational material in the 
Clark University Library. 

Especial acknowledgment should be made of the care- 
ful reading of the manuscript by Mr. Robert H. McNeil, 
Instructor in English in Colgate University. 


SHERMAN M. SMITH 


COLGATE UNIVERSITY 
April, 1926 


Digitized by the Internet Archive - 
in 2022 with funding from 
Princeton Theological Seminary Library 


httos://archive.org/details/relationofstatetOOsmit 


CONTENTS 


I. EUROPEAN BACKGROUNDS 


II. CourcH AND STATE IN COLONIAL MAssacHu- 
SETTS 


Ill. Cotontan Revicious EDUCATION ............. 25 


IV. CoLtonraL Support oF REtIcIOousS EDUCATION IN 
RISRVABU COLLEGE AY, von ttser rit ayaa) satel slate 53 


V. Pusiic ReEticious EDUCATION, 1780-1837 ..... 68 

VI. State ENCOURAGEMENT OF RE LIcIous Epuca- 
TION IN HIGHER INSTITUTIONS, 1780-1837 .. IIO 

VII. THe ComprLete ELIMINATION OF SECTARIAN 
PUBLICHILDUCATION ALO 37-1055 baleen aisle stusteene 142 

VIII. THe WITHDRAWAL OF STATE SUPPORT OF SEC- 
TARIAN HIGHER INSTITUTIONS, 1837-1917 ... 212 

IX. Rertictous Aspects oF EpucaATIONAL LEGISLa- 
TION AND ADMINISTRATION, 1855-1917 ...... 252 

X. Tue REticious EDUCATION OF THE DEPENDENT, 

DEFECTIVE, AND DELINQUENT WARDS OF THE 
SNA TRO e as tetas Meat aet cts) oil aba a aite a wes! elton anes Ds 275 

XI. THe Frnat SETTLEMENT OF THE SECTARIAN 
HTS DE eg RP Ry TS Ee LS Sle anaes Om IB Ut aa 281 

XII. PRESENT ATTITUDE OF RELIGIOUS GROUPS ON 
CHURCH AND STATE COOPERATION .......... 299 
OEE MEET CISLONS 0 dar colern bau liiarc edie t ass: tie cel eca noes 314 
BARI RA BER Waete Ua Woe ler airy wlees era ticle aiateay ol efel kat aned aha ees 323 


CUSNNS GN GENT Laetiad eeu Rar Ba vashe SPA A MBSR HR ar ND ae ee er 341 





MO Re RBEATION OT THREES TATE TO 
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 
IN MASSACHUSETTS 


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RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN 
MASSACHUSETTS 


CHAPTER I 
EUROPEAN .BACKGROUNDS 


TuHE history of education shows that religion and educa- 
tion have been closely related historically. Among primi- 
tive peoples the priestly and teaching functions have 
been combined. Christ himself was the Great Teacher and 
throughout the history of Christendom prior to the settle- 
ment of America education was a function of the church 
rather than the state. Under these circumstances it was 
natural that the educational curricula should have been 
predominantly religious. One of the purposes of the mo- 
nastic schools was to train priests to read the Latin service 
of the church; therefore the venerable trivium and quad- 
rivium had a distinctly religious atmosphere. Theology was 
a leading study and law was approached from a theological 
point of view, in the medieval universities. The education 
of parish schools had a religious content. 

The separation of religious elements from public educa- 
tion, which is the predominant type of education in America, 
is in marked contrast to this medieval situation. The key 
to this is found in the theories of the relation of church and 
state developed by theologians and political scientists in 
nations which have been predominantly Christian. 

The kingdom of which Christ preached was the kingdom 
of heaven, certainly not a political kingdom. He refused to 
summon angels to make him the Ruler of a political state; 
the only record of his use of force was in behalf of the 
temple, not a state — and without force a state cannot sur- 


I 


2 Religious Education in Massachusetis 


vive. He taught obedience to a state which was entirely 
pagan. For about three hundred years the Christian 
church was persecuted by the state, but it was also inde- 
pendent. By the decree of Milan, in 313 A.p., however, 
Christianity was placed on a par with the other religions 
of Rome, and there began that fatal union which permitted 
the Pope to be the virtual ruler of Western Europe when 
the state was degenerating into anarchy, but at untold cost 
to the spiritual influence and functions of the church. The 
papal expression of this theory of the relation of church and 
state may be found in the decree Unam Sanctam,' 1299 A.D., 
where it is stated that there is a spiritual and a temporal 
sword, the one wielded by the church and the one for the 
church, but both being in the power of the church. 

But from that time on the theory had to give way gradu- 
ally before the rising power of the nationalist states, as in 
the case of the quarrel between Boniface VIII and Philip IV. 
Likewise the theologians of the period before and during 
the Protestant Revolt began to advocate the separation of 
church and state. Marsilius of Padua in 1324 published his 
Defensor Pacis, in which he advocated popular sovereignty 
and the separation of church and state, with neither assum- 
ing the functions of the other. De Dominio Divino by 
Wiclif, written about 1375, proclaimed that power de- 
scended directly from God, without any papal mediation. 
While Luther himself did little to change the relation of 
church and state, subsequent leaders whose influence has 
been greater in Great Britain and the United States carried 
on these ideas of separation of functions. Calvin recognized 
the transcendent sovereignty of God, whose will was re- 
vealed in the Bible. While in practice his system at Geneva 
has been called the “ Holy Reign of Terror,” in it were the 
germs of democracy and republicanism, destined in time to 
establish the secular state. Robert Browne’s True and 
Short Declaration in 1584 frankly advised the separation of 


1 The decree is given in full in Henderson, Historical Documents of 
the Middle Ages. 


European Backgrounds 3 


church and state for the good of both gospel and common- 
wealth. These ideas were continued by John Robinson in 
1610, in his Justification of Separation. Finally, as has been 
said, “ Puffendorf drove the theologians out of political 
science and founded a purely lay theory of the state.” ? As 
a consequence, the state took over the function of education 
and the religious content gradually disappeared. 

In the Protestant states of Europe just preceding the 
settlement of America allegiance to the papacy had been 
broken in church as well as in state. The church was un- 
doubtedly subject to the state; but there was no clear sepa- 
ration of functions, and education was as yet mainly a 
church function, with an indirect interest and some legisla- 
tion by the state. 

We find that in Germany Luther boldly advocated state 
education, but with the religious aims and content. In his 
Letter to the German Nobles * he wrote: “I hold it to be 
incumbent on those in authority to command their subjects 
to keep their children at school.” The purpose of this was 
to provide preachers, jurists, curates and scribes. ‘“ Above 
all things let the Scriptures be the chief and the most fre- 
quently used reading book, both in primary and in high 
schools; and the very young should be kept in the gospels.” 
In Dr. Martin Luther’s Address to the Councilmen of all the 
Towns of Germany,* the author stated that it was the great 
and solemn duty, of immense moment to Christianity and 
the world, to give aid and counsel to the young, —a duty 
more necessary than building roads and bridges and artil- 
lery. He would have Latin, Greek, and Hebrew taught be- 
cause they threw light on the Scriptures and imparted sound 
wisdom to rulers. All temporal government was held to be 
of divine origin and authority, and trained men were needed 

2 J. H. Crooker, Religious Freedom in American Education (Boston, 


1903), pp. 3-14, gives a fuller account. 
3 Translated in Barnard, American Journal of Education, IV, pp. 440- 


444. 
4 Translated in Barnard, American Journal of Education, IV, pp. 


429-440. 


4 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


for the civil state as well as for their souls’ salvation. The 
actual system of education introduced into the Protestant 
German states was fathered rather by Melanchthon. The 
Visitation Articles drawn up for Saxony in 1528 at the re- 
quest of the elector became the basis of modern state educa- 
tion. In addition to the creed, the Lord’s prayer, and other 
prayers, one day was to be set aside for definite Christian 
instruction.® As this plan affected the schools of many Ger- 
man cities, we find that here the state was definitely promot- 
ing religious education. 

But it was more particularly from Geneva and the in- 
fluences radiating through Holland, Scotland, and England 
that the Massachusetts settlers drew their inspiration and 
modeled their institutions. In Calvin’s church-state system 
at Geneva a school was established and Calvin himself wrote 
a catechism for the education of youth. 

Holland soon came to be dominated by Calvinistic ideas 
in church and state, and we find the two bodies cooperating 
for education with a large religious content. Successive 
synods of the Dutch Reformed Church provided for the 
establishment of parochial elementary schools, teaching in 
addition to the three R’s the catechism, the creed, the Ten 
Commandments, and the Our Father. In 1618 the Synod 
of Dort, with a view to church and state codperation, passed 
a decree to the effect that schools should be established in 
cities, towns, and country places. It further provided that 
“the Christian magistracy shall be requested that well- 
qualified persons be employed.” These schools were to be 
gratuitous for the poor, only upright and pious members of 
the Reformed Church were to be employed, and the teachers 
were to explain and teach the catechism.* The result was 
that a free public school system with a strong emphasis on 
religious instruction developed in Calvinistic Holland.’ 

5 Adrian A. Holtz, A Study of the Moral and Religious Elements in 
American Secondary Education up to 1800 (Chicago, 1917), p. 13. 

6 A. J. Hall, Religious Education in the Public Schools of New York 


(Chicago, 1914), pp. 3-4. 
7 Holtz, pp. 16-17. 


European Backgrounds 5 


Directly through the Pilgrims who were residing in Hol- 
land when the Synod of Dort was held, and indirectly 
through the spreading of these ideas among the leaders of 
the Calvinistic Puritans of England, it is likely that the 
Dutch model influenced the Massachusetts system. How 
far it is impossible to say. 

Calvinism gave to Scotland an early development of 
common schools, far superior to that of England. The 
Scotch parish was an ecclesiastical as well as civil institu- 
tion, and education was placed under its administration. 
An act of Parliament in 1567 authorized the kirk to appoint 
superintendents with the duty of deciding the qualifications 
of teachers. This act termed instruction without religious 
elements “ tinsell baith to thair bodyis and soulis.” That 
the same attitude was taken locally appears from burgh 
records. The catechism, church attendance, and notes of 
the sermons handed in at school were intended to keep the 
lads and lassies loyal to the faith of their fathers.? The 
interest of the Reformed Church in education was marked. 
Calvin’s disciple, John Knox, in the Book of Discipline in 
1560, ordained that every kirk should have a schoolmaster, 
or if upland the minister must give the first rudiments of 
education. In 1562 the Assembly urged schools in the 
burghs. A decree of the Privy Council in 1616 was ratified 
by the Parliament in 1633, to the effect that the bishops 
with the consent of a majority of the freeholders might pro- 
vide a local cury for education, maintained by public taxa- 
tion. A resolution of the General Assembly in 1638 called 
for the settlement in each parochin (parish) of schools for 
the teaching of youth, for the public reading and precenting 
of the Psalms, and the catechizing of the common people. 
Three years later the same body petitioned Parliament for 
the establishment of a school for reading, writing, and re- 
ligion in every parish, and a grammar school in every con- 
siderable place. Subsequently Parliament authorized the 
presbytery to establish a compulsory school supported by 


8 Holtz, pp. 10-13, quotes from laws and burgh records. 


6 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


public taxation.° Thus in Scotland the state definitely sup- 
ported education for religious purposes and utilized the 
church of the parish for its administration. 

The state in England, prior to the settlement of Massa- 
chusetts, had paid far less attention to education than had 
been given it by the more distinctly Calvinistic countries. 
Throughout the Middle Ages the church had provided the 
monastic schools and probably many vernacular viilage 
schools, with a large religious element. The Protestant 
Revolt tended to interfere with these by state action with- 
out developing a system to take their place. So far as the 
state interfered, it was mainly to secure conformity to the 
Established Church. Almost immediately after his separa- 
tion from the papacy, Henry VIII in 1536 ordered “ that the 
clergy take care that children be taught the creed, the 
Lord’s Prayer, and the ten commandments in the mother- 
tongue.” When the Primer of Henry VIII was published, 
it was put forth with this royal requirement: 

“ For the avoiding of the diversity of primer books . . 
every schoolmaster in bringing up young beginners in learn- 
ing, next after their A. B. C., now by us also set forth, do 
teach this primer or book of ordinary prayers unto them in 
English.” 1° 

This statement is very significant as showing what a 
primer then consisted of and also that the monarch was 
interested in promoting precisely this religious knowledge. 
Edward VI took the same position in 1547, when he ordered 
all clergy to exhort parents and householders to teach their 
children and servants the subjects ordered taught in 1536.1? 
The Elizabethan Poor Law of 1601 required that all pauper 
children have instruction in religion. As late as the 

9 C. R. Fish, The English Parish and Education at the Beginning of 
American Colonization, in School Review, Sept. 1915, pp. 439-440. 
W. L. Mathieson, Parties and Religion in Scotland, 1550-1695 (Glasgow, 
1902), I, p. 206; II, pp. 162-163. 

10 Holtz, pp. 9-10. 

11 Foster Watson, English Grammar Schools to 1660 (Cambridge, 
Eng., 1908), pp. 23-29. 


European Backgrounds 7 


eighteenth century children in workhouses were usually 
taught to read and say the catechism.” 

A further method of controlling teaching in behalf of the 
established order in religion was the requirement of 1563 
that all schoolmasters and public and private teachers of 
children should take the oath of allegiance and secure a 
license from the bishop. In 1663 Laud asked to have a 
teacher sent to London for trial on the ground that he was 
a Jew and denied Christ.‘* The religious test in the uni- 
versities until 1871 prevented nonconformists from securing 
degrees or teaching.** 

While the state confiscated the property of the Catholic 
schools, most of the property was absorbed by the greedy 
hangers-on at court and their place was slowly taken by 
endowed grammar schools, depending on private munificence 
and fees of pupils, but free in the sense that all who could 
pay the fee could attend. Edward VI is said to have 
founded twenty-one of these grammar schools for Latin and 
Greek.t® The statutes of these schools usually required 
school prayers, religious observances, and attendance at the 
parish church on Sundays and Holy Days. Leading text- 
books were the Colloquies of Corderius and the Sacred 
Dialogues of Castalio. These were Calvinistic Latin books 
produced in Geneva and of a Biblical character. The Bible 
was the center of the whole course of instruction..° These 
schools are extremely significant for us because they served 
directly as the model of the organization and content of the 
Latin Grammar Schools of Massachusetts. It is probable 
that the Free Grammar School of Boston, England, where 
the Rev. John Cotton had been connected since 1613, bears 
more than a nominal relation to the Latin Grammar School 


12 G. F. Wells, Parish Education in Colonial Virginia (New York, 
1923), pp. 58-59. 

13 Fish, p. 440. 

14 Watson, pp. 10-23. 

15 G, E. Littlefield, Early Schools and School-Books of New England 
(Boston, 1904), p. 40. 

16 Watson, pp. 50-68. 


8 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


established at Boston in the colony of Massachusetts Bay. 
Similarly Rev. Richard Mather, the grandfather of Cotton 
Mather, and a leader in the schools of Dorchester, was from 
the Winnick School, Lancashire, and from the Toxteth Park 
School. 

An example of closer cooperation of church and state in 
education was found in the parish schools. The parish itself 
was really an ecclesiastical unit exercising also political 
functions. ‘Thus the parish might establish and support a 
parish school, especially providing a school building or room, 
or permitting the use of a part of the church; it might pay 
tuition fees for the education of parish children in a private 
school; it might administer an endowed school; or it might 
supervise the education of apprentices and children in work- 
houses.’*7 These parish schools were paid by fees of the 
pupils or by some patron or an endowment, but they were 
free to all who complied with the conditions. In some 
cases poor children were supported by the parish. Public 
support of education in cases of poverty was thus recog- 
nized, while there was no attempt to distinguish between 
the functions of church and state.1* The children were 
usually taught reading, yHiting, and the catechism by the 
parish clerk.1® 

The content of this English education, which was largely 
imitated by the settlers of Massachusetts, was predomi- 
nantly religious. Brinsley in his Ludus Literarius (1612) 
outlined a course for reading to include the following: The 
Alphabet, The A. B. C., The Primer, The Psalms in metre, 
The Testament, The School of Virtue and The School of 
Good Manners, The Latin Accidence.*° The conclusions of 
Professor Foster Watson in a paper before the Bibliographi- 
cal Society of London were that in the first half of the 
seventeenth century reading was taught by Hornbook 
Alphabets, by the A. B. C., by the Primer, that is prayers 
and religious exercises put forth by royal authority, by the 


17 Wells, p. 17. 19 Wells, p. 18. 
18 Fish, pp. 440-440. 20 Watson, p. 180. 


European Backgrounds 9 


Psalms, by the New Testament, by The School of Virtue 
and the School of Good Manners. There were sixty-eight 
different catechisms offered for sale. Children were also 
interrogated on the sermons heard in church.”! 

It appears that this course of Brinsley persisted in Eng- 
land throughout the seventeenth century. When John Locke 
wrote Some Thoughts Concerning Education in 1690, he 
stipulated that the children should learn by heart the Lord’s 
prayer, the creed, and the Ten Commandments. But he 
questioned the propriety of using the Bible as a reading 
book to the neglect of other books, especially when the 
Bible was beyond the understanding of children. But he 
describes current practice: 

“ Nothing that I know has been considered of this kind 
out of the ordinary road of the Hornbook, Primer, Psalter, 
Testament, and Bible.” *° 

It is therefore apparent that in all the Protestant coun- 
tries which were likely to influence the Pilgrims and Puri- 
tans of Massachusetts the content of education about 1600 
was predominantly religious, in accord with the Protestant 
idea of personal responsibility and the Scriptures as the 
guide in faith and conduct. The state controlled education 
in varying degrees, but its interest in religious education 
was as keen as that of the church. 

1 Littlefield, pp. 50-51. 

22 John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education (London, 1764), 
pm230} 


Cuapter II 


CHURCH AND STATE IN COLONIAL 
MASSACHUSETTS 


To UNDERSTAND the motives which caused the state to 
take a lively interest in religious education in the colonial 
period, it is essential to understand the theories of church 
and state which dominated the Pilgrims and Puritans and 
to see how they worked out their theory in practice. It has 
already appeared that in the European countries from which 
they brought their knowledge and inspiration there was 
nowhere as yet a practical separation of church and state. 
The declaration of Robert Browne and stray theories of 
Anabaptists did not affect Massachusetts practice. Rather 
they followed the teaching of Calvin, which went no further 
than separate administration of the two bodies, each ad- 
justed to the Biblical model and coterminous in membership 
and territory. 

So far as the Pilgrims are concerned, the Mayflower 
Compact served both as a charter of government and a 
declaration of the religious aims of the state, as expressed 
in the words: 

“Having undertaken for the glory of God, and advance- 
ment of the Christian faith, and honor of our king and 
country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern 
parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutu- 
ally in the presence of God and one another covenant, and 
combine ourselves together in a civil body politic, for our 
better ordering and preservation, and our furtherance of the 
ends aforesaid. . . .” ? 

1 Williston Walker, A History of the Congregational Churches in the 
United States (New York, 1894), Chapters I and II. 

2 Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, I, Intro., p. viii. 

Io 


Church and State It 


In the Bay Colony the accession of Winthrop to the 
Company tended to give it much more of a religious spirit 
than the original commercial group had. On the way over 
to America Winthrop wrote A Model of Christian Charity 
in which he clearly expressed the Calvin theory of govern- 
ment as follows: 

“Tt is by mutual consent, through a special overruling 
Providence, and a more than ordinary approbation of the 
churches of Christ the work we have in hand, to seek out 
a place of cohabitation and consortship, under a due form 
of government, both civil and ecclesiastical.” * 

The source of authority has also been described, appar- 
ently by Winthrop, in these terms: 

“ We agreed to walk according to the rules of the gospel. 
And thus you have both a Christian commonwealth and the 
same founded upon the patent.’ * 

We have then a state based upon contract, religious he 
cause formed in a democratic way by an homogeneous group 
who were firmly convinced that the Bible was the sole guide 
in political as well as religious affairs, but with two distinct 
governments, civil and ecclesiastical. Great care was taken 
to keep these functions separate. Governor Winthrop main- 
tained in behalf of the civil power that the church should 
not inquire into the justice and proceedings of the court, 
and that it might call magistrates to account for private, 
not public acts. On behalf of the clergy John Cotton 
expounded that rulers should consult the ministers before 
war or other weighty business.* Even Governor Winthrop 
agreed that the civil state must be raised out of the churches 
and that magistrates were limited. The church was to 
fashion the state and be identical with it. As Cotton ex- 
pressed it, there was a sovereignty in God and a theocracy 
in commonwealth and in church.® 

3G. E. Ellis, The Aims and Purposes of the Founders of the Massa- 
chusetts Colony, in Lowell Institute Lectures (Boston, 1869), pp. 32-34. 

* Hutchinson’s Collection of Original Papers (Boston, 1769), p. 85. 

5 John Winthrop, A Journal of the Transactions and Occurrences, 


1630-1644 (Hartford, 1790), pp. 137, 145. 
6 Ellis, pp. 50-71, gives a fuller treatment. 


12 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


An Abstract of Laws, based on the Scriptures, was pre- 
pared by Cotton and commended to the General Court. 
While not adopted in his form, their spirit was preserved 
in a rearranged form which was adopted. He provided that 
the governor and counsellors should “ preserve religion ” 
and that the General Court should have power ‘to assist 
the governor in the maintenance of the purity and unity 
of religion.” * 

The views of Cotton were more fully expounded in 1663, 
when he wrote: 

“That form of government wherein the best provision is 
made for the good of the Church and of the Civil State, 
is the best form of Government in a Christian Com- 
munion. ... I incline rather to them who speaking of a 
Christian Communion make the Communion to be the genus 
and the state ecclesiastical and civil to be the species of 
it... . For in a Christian Communion there are these 
different administrations or polities or states, ecclesiastical 
and civil. Ecclesiastical administrations are a divine order 
appointed to believers for holy communion of holy things; 
civil administrations are an humane order appointed by 
God to men for civil fellowship of humane things. . . . God 
as the Creator and Governour of the world, is the Author of 
civil order and administrations; but God as in covenant 
with his people in Christ is the Author of Church adminis- 
trations.’ Cotton continued that the work of the two 
should be kept separate, the magistrates should not excom- 
municate, but the two should cooperate and “ not be set in 
Opposition as contraries.”* With reference to laws com- 
pelling Baptists to attend public worship in the established 
way, he justified it on the ground that the Puritans had 
fled man’s inventions in England, but the Baptists were only 
required to attend to God’s institutions.® This is significant 

7 Collections of the Mass. Hist. Soc., ser. 1, V, pp. 173, 175. 

8 John Cotton, A Discourse on Civil Government in a Plantation 
whose Design is Religion (Cambridge, 1663). 


9 Quoted in A Letter to a Gentleman in the Mass. General Assembly 
in Antiquarian Society Pamphlets, 312, p. 9. 


Church and State 13 


as showing the Biblical basis which was intended to underlie 
the civil government. 

Turning from the realm of theory to the legal status, the 
sovereignty of course resided in the Crown, while self- 
government was delegated by the charter of 1628 to the 
Massachusetts Bay Company. In this instrument we find 
these words qualifying the legislative power: 

‘“. .. Whereby the inhabitants there may be so reli- 
giously, peaceably, and civilly governed, as their good life 
and orderly conversation may win and incite the nations of 
the country to the knowledge and obedience of the only 
true God and Savior of mankind, and the Christian faith, 
which, in our royal intention, and the adventurers’ free pro- 
fession, is the principal end of this plantation.” 1° 

Acting upon the above principles and agreeably to the 
charter, the Puritans in 1631 by permitting only church 
members to vote made the civil and ecclesiastical govern- 
ments coterminous and guaranteed to the church and clergy 
a predominating influence through control of church mem- 
bership. On the other hand no church could exist without 
the consent of the magistrates, and the General Court might 
overrule church matters. But before decision important 
political matters were referred to the clergy as a sort of 
Supreme Court for an opinion. A fine of five shillings was 
the penalty for absence from public worship on fast days." 
In 1631 the General Court objected to the people of Salem 
calling Mr. Williams “ to the office of teacher ” because “ he 
had declared his opinion that the magistrate might not 
punish the breach of the sabbath nor any other offence that 
was a breach of the first table.” In the same year the 
Governor and the Deputy Governor went to Watertown to 
settle a church quarrel regarding an elder who was teaching 
the so-called truth concerning the Roman church. They 


10 Sen. Doc. 158, 1849. 

11 Thomas Hutchinson, The History of Massachusetts, 1628-1750 
(Salem, 1795), I, pp. 363-383. This early account discusses in some 
detail the relations of church and state and appears to be fairly 
accurate. 


T4 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


offered to act as magistrates, but the pastor preferred that 
they act as members of a neighboring church. Upon the 
request of Boston in the following year, neighboring con- 
gregations unanimously replied in the negative regarding 
the proposition of a person being at the same time a magis- 
trate and a ruling elder. It was generally understood that 
clergy could not hold civil office. In 1644 in response to a 
request for an opinion, the clergy informed the General 
Court that in the absence of an express law covering a case, 
penalties could be imposed according to the rules of the 
Word of God.1? In 1646. the General Court, while disclaim- 
ing “lordship of human power over the faith and con- 
sciences of men” nevertheless decreed banishment to those 
who denied certain doctrines.** In the same year the Court 
showed its interest in the creed, by suggesting to the 
churches the holding of a synod to adopt a platform of 
church discipline. This body met and adopted the Cam- 
bridge Platform, which it recommended with the West- 
minster Confession to the General Court and churches.'* 
Five years later the General Court fined all who were con- 
cerned in the choice of a pastor at Malden without the 
consultation of the neighboring churches.t®° In order to 
check the growing latitudinarian sentiments, the Court 
finally required the consent of magistrates as well as neigh- 
boring churches to the choice of a pastor.‘® Thus in the 
establishment of their ‘ constitution of civil and ecclesiasti- 
cal order ” the Court did “ sincerely endeavor the promoting 
of piety, religion, and honesty, the professed true interest 
and known ends of this plantation,” as the King was in- 
formed in 1665.*7 

12 Winthrop, especially pp. 25, 31, 38. 

18 Edward Buck, Massachusetts Ecclesiastical Law (Boston, 1865), 


35. 

14 Collections of the Mass. Hist. Soc., ser. 1, VII, p. 25. 

15 Records of the Gov. and Co. of Mass. Bay (Boston, 1854), IV, 
ha Cd iy 9 oy 0 

16 Collections of the Mass. Hist. Soc., ser. 1, X, p. 25. 

17 Records of the Gov. and Co. of Mass. Bay, IV, Pt. II, p. 222. 


Church and State 15 


Some consideration must be given to the provisions for 
public support of the ministry, because the clergy, especially 
in the frequent catechizing, were engaged in a type of 
religious education; because frequently the support of 
churches was grouped together in legislation with schools; 
and because if the ministry was provided for at public 
expense, there would naturally be the lesser provision for 
religious instruction at public expense. 

Before the government had reached the shores of New 
England, on April 8, 1628, an action of great significance 
was taken, prophetic of Massachusetts institutions for two 
hundred years. Francis H. Higgeson, Samuel Skelton, and 
Francis Bright promised “ to do their true endeavor in their 
places of the ministry as well in preaching, catechizing, as 
also in teaching, or causing to be taught the Company’s 
servants and their children.” The Company agreed to 
furnish salary, grounds, and diet.‘** This forecasts state 
support of religious education, the union of the teaching 
and preaching functions, and the supervisory power of the 
clergy over education. In the following October it was 
provided that the charge of ministers and churches should 
be borne half by the Company’s joint stock and half by the 
planters.*® In 1630 the Court of Assistants ordered £60 
collected from the several plantations for the maintenance 
of Mr. Wilson and Mr. Phillips, the ministers.°° 

As various towns were established, the ministry was in 
some cases voluntarily supported and in others by tax. 
In both Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay the voluntary 
system seems to have prevailed at first, and for over a 
century the voluntary system persisted in Boston. ‘This 
was taught by Mr. Cotton in a sermon as the proper 


18 Transactions and Collections of the American Antiquarian Society 
(1857), III, p. 30b. This volume contains Company records from 
March 27 to April 30, 1628, made available after the official edition of 
the Records in 1854. 

19 Records of the Gov. and Co. of Mass. Bay, I, p. 55. 

20 Jbid., p. 82. 


16 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


method.2!. In 1641 Thomas Lechford reported that con- 
tributions were given to the deacon freely during Sabbath 
worship. But at Salem church members offered publicly 
and others were compelled to give at their homes. At 
some places there was a rate on all the people of the com- 
munity for support of the church, while other places were 
appealing to the General Court to enforce the maintenance 
of the ministry.2? This antedated any extensive develop- 
ment of rival sects and it is further clear that from the 
beginning some towns used the power of the state to en- 
force the support of reHgion. The first paragraph of the 
records of Watertown provided for the choice of three 
persons for the ordering of civil affairs and the second was 
as follows: 

“1634. Agreed, that the charge of the Meeting House 
shall be gathered by a rate justly levied upon every man 
proportionally unto his estate.” ** 

On the 7th of August, 1635, a rate of £80 was levied for 
the “ charges of the new Meeting House.” ** The records 
for December, 1642, show a payment of ten pounds to 
John Knolls as pastor for one quarter, and subsequently a 
payment of £33, six shillings, and eight pence to George 
Phillips, pastor for a half year.*° 

But as the towns failed to make satisfactory arrangements 
for the maintenance of religious institutions, the power 
of the colonial legislature was invoked to support religion. 
The General Court in 1637 took cognizance of the matter 
by ordering the towns to consider and report means of 


“1 Contributions to the Ecclesiastical History of Essex Co. (Boston, 
1865). Cf. Cong. Qr., I, 1859, pp. 158-164, where it is stated that com- 
pulsion was at first unheard of and attributes the necessity of it to the 
rising sects of Antinomians, Quakers, and Baptists. 

22 Thomas Lechford, Plaine dealing (London, 1642), in Collections of 
the Mass. Hist. Soc., ser. 3, III, p. 78. 

“3 Henry Bond, Genealogies and Early History of Watertown (Boston, 
1860), p. 995. Bond quotes much of the early records. 

24 Tbid., p. 1066. 

25 Tbid., Dp. 990. 


Church and State 7 


properly providing for the ministry of the gospel, that the 
Court might act “ according to the rule of the gospel.” At 
the same time the town of Newbury was ordered to levy a 
tax on every estate for support of the ministry.*° In the 
following year assessment and distraint was authorized 
for upholding ordinances in churches.*’ The situation evi- 
dently did not improve, for in 1654 the County Court in 
every shire was ordered to fix the maintenance if not other- 
wise provided and to collect it by distraint. While 
Plymouth was hardly as thoroughgoing in the treatment of 
dissenters, a law was passed in 1657 for a just and equal 
tax on those who refused to do their part. The next year 
Lieut. Matthew Fuller was fined 50 shillings for saying 
that the above was a “ Divillish law.” 2 That the law was 
not a dead letter in the towns of the Bay Colony appears 
from a record of the town of Sudbury in 1670 to the effect 
that Jon. Stanhope should see that the minister’s rate was 
duly paid and to summon before a magistrate to answer 
for their neglect any who refused to pay.?® Eventually 
more drastic measures were taken, for in 1683 the town 
voted: 

“That whereas certain proprietors and inhabitants of 
the town have neglected to pay their proportions to the 
minister’s rate, and added to the evil by not paying the 
proportion due upon the two six months’ rates made since, 
to the dishonor of God, contempt of his worship, unright- 
eousness to their neighbors, ... In his majesties’ name 
you are therefore now required forthwith to collect by 
distress upon the monies, neat cattle, sheep or other beasts, 
corn, grain, hay, goods or other estate moveable.” *° 

The attitude of the Massachusetts Bay Colony on this 
general matter may be summed up in the words of the 


26 Records of the Gov. and Co. of Mass. Bay, I, p. 216. 

27 Appropriations for Sectarian and Private Purposes, in Bulletins 
for the Constitutional Convention, 1917-1918, II, pp. 15-16. 

28 Cong. Qr., 1. 1859, pp. 158-164. 

29 A. S. Hudson, History of Sudbury (Sudbury, 1889), p. 146. 

80 Ibid., p. 146. 


18 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


General Court in 1679 in appointing a committee to report 
what was most necessary for “ the advancement of learning 
and the college, and due encouragement to the ministry, 
that there may be a prolonging of God’s special favor to us 
in so weighty and necessary concerns to us and our pos- 
terity.”*t Religion and education were equally under the 
patronage of the state, and all for the glory of God. 

The Province Charter of 1691, though largely influenced 
by Dr. Increase Mather, one of the leaders of the old dis- 
pensation, nevertheless placed religion on a different basis. 
The King now exerted more real control, and as property 
rather than church membership was made the franchise 
qualification and toleration was established, for all except 
‘“papists,’ never could the old theocracy hope to control 
affairs as before.*? In fact Dr. Mather felt it necessary to 
defend his work in the election sermon, in terms which in- 
dicate that under a new form much of the old spirit was 
expected to remain: 

“Religion is forever secured; a righteous and generous 
liberty of conscience established. And the General As- 
sembly may by their acts, give a distinguishing encourage- 
ment unto that religion, which is the general profession of 
the inhabitants. ... As long as their principal magis- 
trates, and justices, favour and express piety, and abhor and 
punish wickedness, tis to be hoped religion will be kept 
in hearts’ 3? 

The suggestion was followed by the act of November 4, 
1692, requiring all towns to provide orthodox ministers, to 
be chosen by the major part of the inhabitants of the town, 
and all to be assessed to pay.** Because the ravages of the 
wars with the French and Indians broke up the frontier 
churches, and sometimes accounted for the massacre or 

31 Records of the Gov. and Co. of Mass. Bay, V, p. 238. 

82 Susan M. Reed, Church and State in Massachusetts, 1691-1740 
(Univ. of Ill, 1914), pp. 9-18. Charters and General Laws of the 
Colony and Province of Mass. Bay, pp. 1-40, gives the Charter. 


33 Cotton Mather, Parentator (Boston, 1724), p. 141. 
34 Acts and Resolves, Province, I, p. 62. 


Church and State 19 


capture of clergymen, besides providing for land for the 
clergy, between 1693 and 1725 the General Court voted 
almost £1600 for religious support in these frontier com- 
munities.*° The General Court also assumed the function 
of deciding the choice of ministers when two claimed 
the same parish, settled disputes about pay, and was 
watchful to see that every town had an orthodox clergy- 
man.*° 

But the development of rival bodies of Baptists, Quakers, 
and Episcopalians gave rise to new theories of the extent 
to which the power of the state should be used to promote 
religion, and the injustice of the taxation of all for an 
established religion gradually caused the established church 
to yield. These groups were just beginning to organize 
about 1700. The first Episcopalian clergyman arrived in 
Massachusetts in 1686 and there was no other by 1700. 
The first Baptist church was organized in Boston in 1685. 
By 1700 the Quakers had a brick meeting house in Boston 
and there was a Huguenot Calvinist congregation. The 
more democratic and individualistic faith of the Friends 
was spreading rapidly, more particularly in Plymouth 
territory, which was by the new charter a part of the 
Province.** 

Because of the opposition of these groups to taxation, 
the legislature in 1702, on the ground that ‘ Quakers and 
irreligious persons find ways to elude the laws for the 
support of the public worship of God,’ strengthened the 
system by providing for special assessors where the min- 
isters were not properly supported by taxes, who should 
apportion the rate and give it to the constables to collect.*® 

But the opposition of the Quakers was stubborn because 
it was a matter of conscience. In his tract entitled Forcing 
a Maintenance in 1713, Thomas Chalkley, their leader, 


85 Reed, pp. 52-71, gives fuller discussion. 

86 Ibid., pp. 84-85. 

37 Reed, pp. 39-45. 

38 Charters and General Laws of the Colony and Province of Massa- 
chusetts Bay, pp. 373-374. 


20 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


insisted that preachers should receive no gain for their 
ministry, and quoted Scripture to show that magistrates 
were not justified in forcing it from the people. Friends 
believed that God almighty would teach his people himself 
by his Spirit. There was no warrant in Scripture for dis- 
training to collect for the support of a public worship which 
Friends considered an erroneous bondage. The modern 
idea of the separation of church and state comes forwards 
in the words: 

“T tenderly and lovingly, as a minister of Jesus Christ, 
and true lover of good .government, exhort and warn all 
magistrates to be careful to keep within their own province: 
for conscience is none of theirs; it is the peculiar province 
of Jesus Christ; the great territory of the King of Kings, 
and Judge of the quick and dead; and he will render unto 
every man a recompence.” *° 

Though the principles of the Baptists coincided largely 
with those of the Quakers, and the Episcopalians for prac- 
tical reasons were dissatisfied with the existing system, it 
was the heroic devotion of the New England Quakers to 
their principles, and the convenient aid of prosperous 
London Quaker merchants who had the ear of the Walpole 
ministry, that brought relief. It happened that in the towns 
of Dartmouth and Tiverton the majority of Quakers chose 
assessors who refused to assess a rate for a Congregational 
clergyman whom the government persisted in settling 
there. The assessors were imprisoned and Thomas Richard- 
son was sent to England to protest to the government. 
With the aid of an English Quaker, Partridge, he presented 
a petition to the Privy Council.*° The result was that by 
order of the Privy Council June 2, 1724, the assessors were 
released from jail, the back taxes remitted, and thereafter 


39 Thomas Chalkley, Forcing a Maintenance (1713), bound in A 
Collection of the Works of Thomas Chalkley (Phila., 1749), esp. pp. 
379, 393, 395, 400. 

#0 Reed, pp. 86-123, gives a scholarly treatment. See especially pp. 
86, 90, 95, I17, IQ, 122, 123. 


Church and State 21 


in towns where Quakers were in a majority they escaped 
payment for the support of religion.*? 

The Congregational order also met opposition from the 
Episcopalians, but rather here because it ruffled the dignity 
of a church established by law in England not to be on 
a par practically with the other churches in Massachusetts, 
and to have their parishioners taxed to support other than 
their own churches. They had no objection to an establish- 
ment, however. In 1724 the minister of King’s Chapel was 
Rev. Mr. Myles, with voluntary support. Rev. Mr. Harris, 
rated as the King’s Chaplain, was the afternoon preacher, 
with £100 from the Crown. The rector of Christ Church 
was Rev. Dr. Cutler. There were also churches at New- 
bury and Marblehead, with voluntary support.*? Jealous 
lest the authorization of a synod by the government should 
appear to make the Congregational order the established 
religion of the Province, the Episcopalians in 1725 peti- 
tioned the Governor and General Court against the holding 
of the prospective synod, on the ground that it would be 
disrespectful not to consult the Episcopalians, and un- 
dutiful to King George to call it before his pleasure was 
known.** Taking advantage of a postponement of the 
matter for a year, they secured through the Lord Bishop 
of London and the Duke of Newcastle a pronouncement 
of the Lords Justices that there was no established religion 
and no warrant for the holding of a synod in Massachusetts, 
especially without authorization by the King, and Governor 
Dummer was instructed not to permit it to meet.** This 
is important as a statement of the status of religion under 
the Charter of 16091. 

The old Puritan theocrats made the best of the situation 
and in 1726 Cotton Mather wrote that in populous places 

41 Letter-Book of Samuel Sewell, Il, p. 171, in Collections of Mass. 


Hist. Soe,, .ser..6, 13: 
42 Henry W. Foote, Annals of King’s Chapel, 2v. (Boston, 1882), I, 


P. 337- 
48 Letter-Book of Samuel Sewell, 11, pp. 184-186. 


44 Foote, I, pp. 343, 344. 


22 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


there were voluntary contributions for clerical support, and 
in other places there was a tax by the King’s laws for the 
King’s ministers. Where a majority of a plantation were 
Episcopalian, they had their minister and the Dissenters 
must help pay. A governor by arbitrary power should not 
prevent the King having his dues for his ministers, but 
there were some generous condescensions. Where there 
were Quakers, the minister’s rate was lumped in all the 
taxes, and they paid it.*° But he hoped the spirit of the 
old institutions would remain: 

“The Church-State of New England, even in these ex- 
hibitions of it, is, by reason of strength, now come to more 
than four score years; but the strength holds; it is to be 
hoped that it will not be soon cut off; or indeed ever fly 
away.” *° 

But times had changed and due to pressure in the Prov- 
ince and the fear of interference from England, the legisla- 
ture was hereafter constantly passing acts for exemption 
from ministerial support during the rest of the colonial 
period. To forestall action by the Privy Council similar 
to that in the case of the Quakers, since an Episcopalian 
had been imprisoned in Bristol and the Board of Trade had 
been appealed to, on December 19, 1727, the Episcopalians 
were exempted partially by a temporary law for five years. 
Where an Anglican resided within five miles of a town, 
parish, precinct, or society church, having a person in 
orders according to the rules of the Church of England, 
and he usually attended the public worship there, the town 
treasurer was required to pay the Anglican’s taxes over to 
the Episcopal minister, and he was excused from taxes for 
the building of meeting-houses.*”7 It is noteworthy that the 
support of some religion was still made compulsory, so that 
the principle was not changed. A similar five-year exemp- 
tion was secured by the Quakers and Baptists in the fol- 


45 Cotton Mather, Ratio Disciplinae (Boston, 1726), pp. 20-22. 
46 Ibid \Intro., pp: 8/10. 
47 Acts and Resolves, Province, II, p. 459. 


Church and State 23 


lowing spring, but their scruples of conscience against the 
use of the temporal power in spiritual matters brought a 
change in the form of the law. It provided that Quakers 
or Baptists should be appointed to bring in under oath 
lists of such conscientious objectors, and if they were en- 
rolled in societies within five miles and usually attended, 
their polls should not be taxed nor should there be body 
executions of taxes on their estates.*® The Quakers in 
1731 *® and the Baptists in 1734 °° secured new laws ex- 
empting them from taxes on their polls or real or personal 
estates for the support of ministers or meeting-houses, for 
five-year periods. The exemption for Episcopalians was 
renewed on the same terms in 1735, except that there was 
no mention of the five-mile limit.*! 

For one hundred years after this there was little change 
in the principles involved regarding state support of re- 
ligion, but the Baptists became increasingly stronger and 
the opponents of state support, while the Quakers had 
passed the zenith of their influence. The halting exemp- 
tions which had been granted were dictated by policy 
rather than principle, as shown by a recommendation of 
the Governor in 1747 for better support of the ministry 
because of the depreciated currency, which led the Court 
to recommend to several congregations that they make an 
honorable provision for the ministry. The words of the 
Governor follow: 

“J esteem it the indispensable duty of the legislature to 
do everything in their power for the support and advance- 
ment of the Christian religion.” *” 

48 Tbid., pp. 494-496. POW DT Dr ee A. 

49 Jbid., p. 619. 51 [bid., p. 782. 

52 Acts and Resolves, Province, Ill, p. 561. Daniel Neal in II, p. 
254 of his History of New-England (London, 1747), is from the modern 
point of view grossly inaccurate in rejoicing in religion and the state 
being on a separate basis. He says that the magistrate did not meddle 
in matters of religion any more than was necessary for the preservation 


of the public peace. True, the administrations were separate, but the 
temporal did not hesitate to promote the spiritual. 


24 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


Meantime the exemptions of Quakers and Baptists were 
successively renewed, in 1757 for three years,** and then 
for ten years.°* In 1770 the renewal specified Quakers 
and Antipedobaptists, and allowed towns to exempt with- 
out the submission of lists of members if they so voted.°° 

But the power of the sword was still available to religion, 
for as late as about 1760 three leading Dutch Lutheran 
citizens of Great Barrington, without a church of their own 
faith, spent the day in the stocks, rather than attend the 
services once in three months as required by law, when 
only Congregational services were available to them.*® 

Thus throughout the colonial period there was never a 
time when Massachusetts did not apply the principle that 
it was a function of the state to promote religion and when 
the majority did not believe that taxation for religious 
purposes was justified. Whatever concessions were made 
were partly due to interference from England and partly to 
the importunity of those who held a different theory of 
church and state, or, in the case of the Episcopalians, who 
did not object to the theory, but did object to its application 
in favor of Dissenters and to their disadvantage. 


53 Charters and General Laws of the Celony and Province of 
Massachusetts Bay, pp. 782-784. 

54 Acts and Resolves, Province, IV, p. 420. 

Se DIA VON DDL ker C13: 

56 The Berkshire Book, 1 (Pittsfield, 1892), pp. 186-192. 


Cuapter III] 
COLONIAL RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 


Previous to the Charter of 1691, the educational systems 
of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay were separate. The 
records of Plymouth during this period show scanty at- 
tention to education, but there is enough to show that the 
vital principle was the same in each. Schools were not at 
first compulsory, the Court in 1658 and 1663 contenting 
itself with proposing to the consideration of the townships 
the appointment of a schoolmaster in every town to train 
the children up to reading and writing. It is doubtful 
whether this injunction was heeded at once, but in 1672 the 
town records of Plymouth received this entry: 

“That their children be instructed in reading when they 
are entered the Bible, and also that they be taught to write 
and cipher, besides that which the country expects from 
the said school.” ? 

Apparently it was for the benefit of this school that in the 
following year the Court provided that the charge of the 
free school should be defrayed out of the profits arising by 
the fishing at the cape, and in the following year provided 
for its continuance if there were eight or ten scholars.’ In 
1677 there was a provision for towns to pay part of the 
salary of grammar school teachers.* 

From the above it appears that education was neglected, 
but that public money was used for a school in which the 
Bible was used as a reading book. It would at that period 
have been practically impossible to have reading taught 


1 Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, XI, pp. 142, 211. 
2 Collections of the Mass. Hist. Soc., ser. 2, IV, p. 86. 

3 Records of the Colony of New Piymouth, XI, pp. 233, 237. 
4 Ibid., pp. 246, 247. 


25 


26 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


without reading the Bible or a book of biblical content. 
Hence it is fair to conclude that the people of Plymouth 
were not opposed to state support of religious education 
when they authorized towns to pay part of the salary of 
grammar school teachers. 

The above principle was repeatedly declared in the 
Massachusetts Bay Colony. We have already seen that 
when the Company in England contracted with ministers 
to come over, it was stipulated that part of their duty was 
to catechize and teach. In the Company’s first letter of 
instructions to Governor Endicott and his Council, it was 
stated that the propagation of the gospel was the main end 
of the plantation, and it was urged that there be a plentiful 
provision of godly ministers. On Saturdays work was to 
stop at three, in order that the rest of the day might be 
spent in catechizing and preparation for the Sabbath. The 
ministry were to exercise their ministry and teaching ac- 
cording to God’s word. So it was during these first years 
that the ministers were chiefly relied upon for carrying on 
education, and we may be sure it was of a religious char- 
acter. The reason for this was that justification by faith 
involved the necessity of being able to read and interpret 
the Scriptures which taught this gospel. Even then it had 
come to be regarded as necessary by this time to have a 
catechism to give the interpretation ready made, and 
knowledge of this was regarded as necessary in preparation 
for the life to come. So it has been said of the Puritan: 
“His whole system of training is directed to a religious 
object.” 7 

Local provisions for education antedated those by the 
General Court after the transference of the government to 
New England. In fact most of the training in the first 
years was undoubtedly given in the homes. The first action 


5 Supra, p. 18 

6 Records of the Gov. and Co. of Mass. Bay, I, pp. 386, 387, 305. 

7 Noah Porter, Educational System of the Puritans and Jesuits Com- 
pared (New York, 1851), p. 48. 


Colonial Religious Education 27 


taken by the General Court was typically religious, for on 
June 2, 1641, they gave instructions to the elders to make 
out “a catechism for the instruction of youth in the grounds 
of religion.” * In the following year all masters of families 
were required to catechize their children and servants in 
the grounds and principles of religion once a week. They 
were to learn some short orthodox catechism, and be ready 
for examination by the selectmen.? The act of June 14, 
1642, ordered the officers to investigate concerning the 
“calling and employment of their children, especially of 
their ability to read and understand the principles of re- 
ligion and the capital laws of the country.’ Fines were 
authorized for the enforcement of the law.’° This followed 
the principles of the Elizabethan Poor Law and had in 
mind the industrial and moral as well as religious training 
of children. It did not compel schools or school attend- 
ance, but implied that the training could be given in the 
home. But it did make religious education compulsory for 
all. 

Compulsory schools but not compulsory school attend- 
ance was required by the famous law of November 11, 
1647, the fundamental school law of Massachusetts. It re- 
quired a teacher in every town of fifty householders and a 
grammar school in every town of one hundred householders. 
But it must be noted that while schools were compulsory, 
they did not necessarily have to be publicly supported, nor 
offer free tuition to all. Thus schools resembling the parish 
and grammar schools of England would be sufficient to sat- 
isfy the law; but they must exist, a fact not true in England. 
The spirit was rather that of the writings of Luther, and 
the piactice of Holland and Scotland. But nowhere was 
there as yet so comprehensive a law, requiring that all 
children who came must be taught to read and write. The 
religious purpose is fully expressed in the preamble: 


8 Records of the Gov. and Co. of Mass. Bay, Il, p. 6. 
9 Charters and General Laws of the Colony and Province of Mass. 
Bay, p. 74. 10 Records of the Gov. and Co. of Mass. Bay, II, p. 6. 


28 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


“Tt being one chief project of that old deluder, Satan, 
to keep men from the knowledge of the Scriptures, as in 
former times, by keeping them in an unknown tongue, so 
in these latter times, by persuading from the use of tongues, 
that so at last the true sense and meaning of the original 
might be clouded by false glosses of saint-seeming deceivers, 
that learning may not be buried in the grave of our fathers 
in the church and commonwealth, the Lord assisting our 
ENUeAaVOrs iia aaah 

Further evidence that the support of religion was the 
prime object of the above law appears in the legislation of 
May 3, 1654: 

‘““Forasmuch as it greatly concerns the welfare of this 
country that the youth thereof be educated, not only in 
good literature, but sound doctrine, this court doth there- 
fore commend it to the serious consideration and special care 
of the overseers of the college, and the selectmen in the 
several towns, not to admit or suffer any such to be con- 
tinued in the office or place of teaching ... that have 
manifested themselves unsound in the faith, or scandalous 
in their lives, or not giving due satisfaction according to 
the irulesiin Christy) 42 

The above would indicate that the unconscious training 
through the religious personality of the teacher was con- 
sidered. This provision later became the basis for the so- 
called moral education law of 1789, which has been carried 
over unchanged to the present. In addition to the ortho- 
dox character of teachers, the Court interested itself in 
the books from which people might give themselves a re- 
ligious education, for by the law of October 14, 1656, we 
find this added to the law prohibiting the immigration of 
Quakers: 

“If any person shall knowingly import into any harbor 
of this jurisdiction any Quaker bookes, or writings con- 
cerning their devilish opinions, shall pay for every such 


11 Records of the Gov. and Co. of Mass. Bay, Il, p. 203. 
12 Records of the Gov. and Co. of Mass. Bay, Ill, p. 333. 


Colonial Religious Education | 29 


book or writings, being legally proved against him or them, 
the sum of 5£.” 1° 

The law of 1654 appears not to have been very effective, 
for it was reénacted in 1671.1* At the same time a law was 
passed requiring the selectmen to return to court all children 
and youth not living in families, and the constables to serve 
warrants for the purpose. This was done because it was 
stated that violations of the law of 1642 requiring them to 
be under family government, learn the capital laws, the 
catechism, and some honest employment, was causing much 
profaneness and dishonor of God.*® 

Another sidelight upon the way in which the state re- 
garded the education of the home appears from the fact that 
in both Plymouth and the Bay Colony a child between 16 and 
21, charged with a certain capital offence against one of his 
parents, could satisfy the law by successfully pleading that 
his parents “ had been very unchristianly negligent in his 
education.” 1° 

The official attitude in the Bay Colony toward education 
was well expressed by Mr. Oakes in the Election Sermon to 
the General Court in 1673, in these words: 

“Think not that the commonwealth of learning may 
languish, and yet our civil and ecclesiastical state be main- 
tained in good plight and condition.” 17 

After the Charter of 1691 legislation applied to Massachu- 
setts Bay, New Plymouth, Maine, and Nova Scotia.** The 
new conditions led to the passage of the law of November 
4, 1692, regarding ministerial support, which has already 
been discussed; and typical of the close relation between 
religion and education, the same act provided for a school- 


13 Jbid., III, pp. 415, 416. 

14 Charters and General Laws of the Colony and Province of Mass. 
Bay, p. 186. 

15 Jbid., p. 196. 

16 Horace Mann, Lectures on Education (Boston, 1848), p. 18. 

17 Collections of the Mass. Hist. Soc., ser. 1, VII, p. 21. 

18 Charters and General Laws of the Colony and Province of Mass. 
Bay, pp. 1-40, gives the Charter. 


30 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


master to teach reading and writing in every town of fifty 
householders, and for a grammar school if there were 
one hundred families, under penalty of £10 for neglect.’® 
But the hardship of frontier life and struggles with the 
Indians lessened the early zeal for education, and in ten 
years the penalty was increased because the failure of the 
old law was “ tending greatly to the nourishment of igno- 
rance and irreligion.” Apparently to guarantee orthodoxy, 
or possibly because the ministers were the only inhabitants 
in many districts capable of examining prospective teachers, 
it was further provided that every grammar schoolmaster 
was “to be approved by the minister of the town and the 
ministers of the two next adjacent towns, or any two of 
them, by certificate under their hands.” No minister was 
to be deemed a schoolmaster under the law, certainly not 
because of fear of mixing religion and education, but quite 
probably to prevent towns from evading their legal obli- 
gations. Grand juries were to present towns for failure 
to obey the law.”° 

The licensing provision was strengthened in a law of 
March 19, 1711, “ forasmuch as the well educating and in- 
structing of children and youth in families and schools are 
a necessary means to propagate religion and good manners.” 
It stipulated that only those of sober and good conversation 
might teach, and they must have the approval of the select- 
men of the town for teaching, under penalty of forty shil- 
lings for keeping school without a license. The previous pro- 
visions were continued for the licensing of grammar-school 
masters.** Thus we have compulsory education in religion, 
though not necessarily compulsory attendance at school; 
compulsory schools in every town, though not necessarily 
supported by taxation; and the safeguarding of orthodoxy 
by the licensing of public and private teachers. This comes 


19 Acts and Resolves, Province, I, pp. 62-63. 
20 Charters and General Laws of the Colony and Province of Mass. 


Bay, pp. 371, 372. 
21 Acts and Resolves, Province, pp. 681, 682. 


Colonial Religious Education ci 


perilously near forcing children into the religious faith of 
the majority, although a Quaker or Baptist parent might 
comply with the law by teaching his children his own faith 
in his own home. 

To establish education and religion in new towns, as 
settlements expanded westward, it became customary in the 
creation of new towns to require that lots be first reserved 
for the benefit of the minister and schoolmaster, and that 
a church and school be built. Examples are Rutland in 
1720, the south part of Dedham in 1724, and Penycook 
lan 25s 

A special act for Boston in 1735 empowered overseers 
of the poor to bind out into good families, ‘“ for a decent 
and Christian education,” children who did not know the 
alphabet at six.** This was merely reapplying the princi- 
ples of the Elizabethan Poor Law. A change in the general 
attitude toward the aim of education begins to appear in 
1768, when precincts as well as towns or districts were 
authorized to tax for school buildings and schoolmasters. 
The familiar preamble had now been expanded to read, 
‘“‘ Whereas, the encouragement of learning tends to the pro- 
motion of religion and good morals, and the establishment 
of liberty, civil and religious. . . .”’ 74 

It is difficult to say just how far these colonial laws 
accomplished their purposes. We know that education in 
the second and third generations in the frontier communi- 
ties was not kept up to the original standards, particularly 
in regard to grammar schools. But it is probable that the 
religious aspects were guarded by the clergy and held their 
own as well as any. The following account of conditions 
in 1747, by Neal, may be taken as on optimistic one: 

22 Acts and Resolves, Province, X, pp. 35, 512, 739. Council proceed- 
ings in similar cases, Jbid., XI, pp. 325, 355, 416, 656, 685. 

23 [bid., pp. 757, 758. Cf. the Virginia Law of 1727 (Henning, IV, 
p. 212), providing that where parents did not give due care to the 
education of their children in Christian principles, the church wardens 


might bind them out the same as orphan children. 
24 Ibid., IV, p. 988. 


32 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


‘There are no idle vagabonds, nor so much as a beggar 
in the whole country, which is owing in part to the religious 
care of the New-English planters in the education of their 
youth, for every town of fifty families is obliged by law to 
maintain a school of writing and reading; and every town 
of an hundred families a grammar-school; so that there 
is hardly a child of nine or ten years old throughout the 
whole country, but can read and write, and say his 
catechism.” ?° | 

The thoroughness of the education and particularly the 
religious elements of course depended mainly on the local 
provisions. To these we shall now turn. To determine how 
far the state promoted religious education, it will be neces- 
sary to determine how far the schools were maintained by 
public taxation, how far the education was provided free of 
tuition, and the extent of religious content as appears from 
town records, school contracts, and textbooks commonly 
in use. We shall consider first the financial questions. 

Boston started its public education in 1635, as appears 
from the following town record: 

‘“‘ Likewise it was then generally agreed upon, that our 
brother Philemon Pormont, shall be intreated to become 
scholemaster, for the teaching and nourtering of children 
with us.” 26 

Pormont started the school and in 1637 a grant of thirty 
acres of land to him at Muddy river was confirmed.?* In 
1641 Deare-Island was ordered improved for the mainte- 
nance of a free school for the town, and other purposes if 
the school were first sufficiently provided for.*$ 

This partial support of the school was supplemented after 
a committee and the selectman in 1682 had been authorized 
to consider and provide one or more free schools to teach 


25 Daniel Neal, The History of New England, 2v. (London, 1747), 
Ep aas ts 

“6 Reports of the Record Commissioners of Boston, II, p. 5. 

27 Ibid., p. 25. 

28 ADI Pic OS: 


Colonial Religious Education 33 


children to write and cipher.?® These were termed writing 
schools to distinguish from the original grammar school. 
Upon the report of the committee in the following year, 
£25 annually was allowed for each of two such schools, 
with the proviso that those sending children and able should 
also pay something to the master.*° In 1703 it was ordered 
that a vote be prepared to empower the overseers to pay 
to teach the children of extremely poor parents to read.** 

A strong claim is made by Dorchester to having been the 
first place in the world to provide for a free school, that is 
admitting all who paid the tuition charged, by means of a 
direct tax. It was decided on May 20, 1639, that there 
should be a rent of £20 yearly forever imposed upon Tom- 
son’s Island to be paid by every person that had property 
in the island toward the maintenance of a school in Dorches- 
ter to teach English, Latin, and other tongues, and also 
writing.°? 

The Roxbury Grammar School affords a good example of 
the imitation of the endowed schools of England, except 
that because of the absence of wealthy patrons practically 
the whole community had to join in giving a tax on land 
for a school, the privileges of which were reserved to the 
heirs of the donors. The preamble of the document dis- 
closes the purpose: 

“Whereas, the inhabitants of Roxburie, in consideration 
of their religious care of posterity, have taken into con- 
sideration how necessary the education of their children in 
literature will be to fit them for public service, both in 
church and commonwealth, in succeeding ages... .” ** 

While this was not strictly.a public school in the Ameri- 
can sense, the General Court granted a petition to validate 

29 Ibid., VII, p. 188. 

30 Ibid., p. 161. 

BUUTOIE OSI psk33. 

32 W. D. Orcutt, Good Old Dorchester, 1630-1893 (Cambridge, 1893), 

. 290. 
i 8 C, K. Dillaway, A History of the Grammar School in Roxburie 
(Roxbury, 1860), p. 7. 


34 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


the contract in 1669; the school then had somewhat the 
relation of a private school chartered by the state, and the 
fact that it educated youth for the church was one of 
the reasons alleged in the petition why the Court should 
validate it.** The contract the previous year with John 
Prudden to teach read: 

“, .. to use his best skill and endeavor, both by precept 
and example, to instruct in all scholastical, moral, and 
theological discipline the children of those persons whose 
names are here underwritten, All A.B.C.-darians  ex- 
cepted.’ *° 

As early as June 3, 1636, Charlestown agreed with Mr. 
William Witherell to pay him £40 to teach school for a 
twelvemonth.** It is probable that this was supplemented 
by fees by pupils, for in 1671 Benjamin Thompson was 
engaged by the selectmen to teach to read, write, and cipher, 
to be paid partly by the town and partly by scholars.*7 An 
example of the application of the law requiring the licens- 
ing of private schoolmasters occurred in Charlestown in 
1749, when the selectmen “ approbated and allowed” Mr. 
Matthew Cushing to keep a private school, as he had been 
recommended as a person of sober and good conversa-: 
tion.*® 

Public support was early a feature in Salem. In 1644 it 
was provided that the town would pay for the education of 
poor children.*® Partial support for the grammar school 
appears from the contract with D. Eppes, Jr., to teach all 
scholars sent to him from persons in town in English, Latin, 
and Greek, to fit for the University if they were willing and 
capable, and also to instruct them in good manners and the 
Christian religion. The scholars were to pay twenty shil- 

84 Ibid., pp. 8, 15. 

35) Tbid., Dp. 30. 

36 Richard Frothingham, Jr., The History of Charlestown (Boston, 


1845), p. 65. 
87 Ibid., p. 177. 
38 Frothingham, p. 261. 
89 J. B. Felt, Annals of Salem (Salem, 1827), p. 165. 


Colonial Religious Education 35 


lings a year and the selectmen were to make up the rest.*° 
In 1734 it was voted to keep three schools,*! and in 1737 
the amount paid for public schools was £250.*” 

The system in Ipswich resembled that in the English 
parish, there being an endowment to which the town con- 
tributed and the town having partial control. In 1651 the 
town gave land for a grammar school,** and in 1714 con- 
tributed £25 to the school fund to have a free school, each 
scholar paying twenty shillings and the town making up 
the rest, according to subsequent legislation.*4 Subsequently 
William Burley, Esq., left by will $50 annually for ten years 
to the town, to pay for instruction of poor children in read- 
ing and the principles of the Christian religion.*® The 
feoffees of the Ipswich Grammar School were incorporated 
in 1755, including three selectmen and the representatives 
of the donors. Tuition was to be charged if the income 
from grants was insufficient.*° 

At a town meeting in Dedham in January, 1642, fifty-one 
persons present unanimously voted to set apart land for a 
free school.** In 1649 there was general taxation for its sup- 
port.*® About 1680 the Latin Grammar School was estab- 
lished, provided for by taxation and to be administered by 
the elders of the church and the selectmen of the town.*® 

Watertown in 1649 levied a rate for building a school- 
house and in the following year Mr. Norcross was hired to 
teach at a salary of £30. In 1667 the school was made free 

40 Jbid., Appendix, p. 541, where the town records are given. 

41 Tbid., p. 403. 

42 Tbid., p. 413. 

43 J. B. Felt, History of Ipswich, Essex, and Hamilton (Cambridge, 
1834), Pp. 83. 

44 Jbid., p. 85. 

45 ‘Tbid., p. 89. 

46 Acts and Resolves, Province, Ill, p. 892. 

47 Carlos Slafter, The Schools and Teachers of Dedham, in Dedham 
Historical Register, 1, p. 86. 

48 Clifton Johnson, Old Time Schools and School Books (New York, 
1904), p. 6. 

49 Slafter, p. 128. 


36 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


of tuition to the inhabitants, while others had to pay.°*° 
Mr. Norcross evidently grew grey in the service, for in 
1693 we find the selectmen making an agreement with Mr. 
Norcross to teach school and to catechize scholars and all 
other persons sent to him.® One wonders which classifi- 
cation was the larger. 

The first record of a schoolmaster in Springfield is 1677, 
when Wm. Madison received, in addition to tuition from 
parents, the rent of the town land in Chickupy.*? 

Plymouth was tardy in public support of education, but 
after 1705 money received from unappropriated common 
lands was devoted to an inalienable school fund. In 1706 
the town purchased the subscription schoolhouse.** 

Some references have already been made to the Latin 
Grammar Schools. The earliest schools were Boston, 1635; 
Charlestown, 1636; Salem, 1637; Dorchester, 1639; Cam- 
bridge, 1640 or 1643; Roxbury, 1645; Braintree, 1645 or 
1646. Thirty had been started by 1700 and at least 28 were 
started after that.°* The support of these was partially 
taxation, partially endowments, partially legislative land 
grants, and partially tuition. Examples of land grants were 
one thousand acres to the Dorchester school in 1659, sur- 
veyed and confirmed in 1717; °° five hundred acres to the 
Roxbury school in 1660, confirmed and laid out in 1715, 
when the school petitioned, alleging that “said free school 
is one of the most ancient and famous schools in this prov- 
ince, where by the favor of God more persons have had their 
education, who have been, and now are, worthy ministers 
of the everlasting gospel, than in any, we may say, than in 
many towns of the bigness, in this province; ’’** one thou- 

°° Bond, pp. 1069, 1073. 

51 [bid., p. 1070. 

52 Acts and Resolves, Province, VIII, p. 588 quotes town records. 

53 Collections of the Mass. Hist. Soc., ser. 2, IV, pp. 88-90. 

54 Emit D. Grizzell, Origin and Development of the High School in 
New England before 1865 (New York, 1922), pp. 4, 7, 8. 


55 Acts and Resolves, Province, 1X, p. 558. 
BS I Dig yeDpa 42s. 


Colonial Religious Education 37 


sand acres to the Cambridge school confirmed in 1733; 
and an estate of lands to the Springfield school for the 
support of the master.*® 

From the evidence above, the conclusion may be drawn 
that while the entire support of the schools was not by 
taxation, usually at least a part of the maintenance came 
in some form from the public treasury. If it later appears 
that the content was of a religious character, it may be con- 
cluded that practically everywhere the state was aiding 
religious education. From facts already given incidentally 
it is clear that no objection would in any case be made 
to taxation or other public support, because of the religious 
content; rather that was one of the chief reasons of the 
public support. The schools were democratic, in the sense 
that they were invariably free to all on equal terms; and 
further there appears to have been always town payment 
in behalf of the poor children who could not otherwise | 
attend. Religious ideas fostered this democracy, because 
it was considered as important for a poor child to be trained 
in the principles of religion for his soul’s salvation as for 
a more favored child. There was, however, a sex limitation 
on this democracy. Prior to the Revolution girls did not 
attend the public schools, but learned to read the Bible, 
to say the catechism, to sew and work samplers, and per- 
haps to write, in private dame schools or at home.*® 

Before passing to an examination of the content of the 
public schools, notice should be given of the way the towns 


‘. administered the law of 1642 requiring all children and 


servants to be catechized. This it will be remembered 
was inherited from the poor law administration of England 
and was more particularly intended to benefit apprentices, 
servants, and children of dissolute parents. Immediately 
after the passage of the law we find that the seven men in 


SPI DI |W ATS piv740. 

58 Jbid., VIII, p. 169. 

59 George G. Bush, History of Higher Education in Massachusetts, in 
U. S. Bur. of Ed. Circ. of Inf., No. 6, 1891, p. 394. Littlefield, p. 117. 


38 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


Ipswich were instructed to see that children, neglected by 
their parents, were employed, taught to read, and to under- 
stand the principles of religion and the capital laws of the 
country.®° How the public authorities supervised the teach- 
ing of religion to apprentices through the apprenticeship 
contract appears from this sample one from the Watertown 
records, 1656: 

“These are to show, that Eliz. Brailrook widow of Water- 
town, hath put her daughter (with the consent of the 
selectmen) into the hands of Simont Tomson and his wife 
of Ipswich ropemaker to be an apprentice, until she comes 
to the age of 18 years in which time the said Sarah is to 
serve them in all lawful commands, and the said Simont 
is to teach her to read the English tongue, and to instruct 
her in the knowledge of God and his ways.” * 

Similarly the enforcement of the law of 1642 appears from 
the following Watertown record: 

“Tt was further agreed that the selectmen should go 
through the town in their several quarters to make trial 
whether children and servants be educated in learning to 
read the English tongue and in the knowledge of the capi- 
tal laws according to the law of the country also that they 
may be educated in some orthodox catacise.” ° 

In 1661 Billerica appointed “ Lieftenant Will French 
and Ralph Hill senior ” to examine the families of the town 
to see whether the children and servants were taught in the 
precepts of religion, in reading and learning the catechism. 
More specifically in 1675 all children over eight were re- 
quired to go to Rev. Mr. Samuel Whiting for examination in 
their catechizing and reading.** What might happen in 
families where the law was disobeyed is evident from the 
fact that the Salem selectmen in 1673 advertised children to 


6° Felt, History of Ipswich, Essex, and Hamilton, p. 57. 

61 Watertown Records, p. 47, as quoted in G. L. Jackson, The Devel- 
opment of School Support in Colonial Mass. (New York, 1909), p. 28. 

62 [bid., p. 104, as quoted p. 31. 

68 Henry A. Hazen, History of Billerica (Boston, 1883), pp. 252, 253. 


Colonial Religious Education 39 


be bound out because they were not instructed and brought 
up to useful employment. 

If towns were lax in the enforcement of the law, there 
was the watchful eye of the County Court to remind them 
of their duty. It appears that Sudbury in 1655 reported to 
the Middlesex County Court that they had appointed per- 
sons to make the required examination.®® In 1680, after 
the passage of the law of 1671, a full report was made by 
Sudbury, very likely because the County Court had been 
investigating their educational system. They confessed 
there was no stated school, but two Dame schools for teach- 
ing to spell and to read, and Thomas Walker and others 
were teaching privately. But the selectmen had in the 
- three months past examined “ families, children and youth, 
both as to good manners, orderly living, catechizing, and 
reading, as that they returned from all parts a comfortable 
good account of all these matters. ... And the selectmen 
having also been acquainted that the court expects their 
inspection touching persons who live from under family 
government, or after a dissolute or disorderly manner, to 


\ the dishonor of God, or corrupting of Youth, the selectmen 


-sof the town as above having personally searched and en- 
quired into all families and quarters, in and about this 
town, do return this answer, that they find none such 
amongst us.” ° 

An instance of what appears to have been a usual custom 
of requiring all children to be catechized by the minister is 
found in Chelmsford. A book entitled The Watering of the 
Olive Plant in Christs Garden or A Short Catechism for 
the first Entrance of our Chelmsford Children, prepared by 
Rev. Mr. Fiske, the minister, was printed by the church in 
1657. Since the church could tax, the principle was no 
different than if the town had printed it. Later the church 
voted that all under 16 had to attend the pastor’s house 


64 Felt, Annals of Salem, p. 244. 
685 Hudson, p. 140. 
66 Hudson, pp. 139, 140. 


40 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


weekly for catechizing; while all “ children of the Church ” 
over 16 had to be catechized.*’ .As late as 1753 Rev. 
Ebenezer Bridge records: 

“ Catechized the children at James Parkhurst’s the school- 
house being unfit.’ ° 

Turning from this state supervision of religious education 
outside of the public schools, we shall consider the content 
in those institutions which it has been shown were super- 
vised by public authority and supported at least in part by 
public funds. We shall consider first the character of the 
Latin Grammar Schools, to which the greatest attention 
was given in the beginning. 

These institutions were decidedly ministerial institutions. 
Ministers and college students of divinity were frequently 
teachers; the town minister or ministers probably had the 
greatest interest in them and after about 1700 in law as prob- 
ably in custom before the licensing of the masters was in 
the hands of the ministers; the ministers in the later period 
served as visitors; the large Greek and Latin content was 
designed for the production of ministers rather than mem- 
bers of the commercial classes; the schools were aimed as 
instruments for upholding the prevailing Calvinistic system ; 
the Psalter and the Bible and the Greek Testament, in 
preparation for the university, were the reading books.*® 

The Boston Latin School was the prototype of the others 
and may well be taken as a representative of the character 
of others. Here the ministry jealously guarded their pre- 
rogatives. On May 13, 1703, in accordance with the new 
law, they recommended Mr. Nathaniell Williams as a fit 
person to be joined with Mr. Cheever in the government of 
the Latin School.7? Upon the advice of the ministers in 
1709 the town meeting granted £100 and an usher for the 

67 Wilson Waters, History of Chelmsford (Lowell, 1917), pp. 23-25. 

68:1 bid.,) Dai 855. 

69 Grizzell, pp. 18-27; G. H. Martin, The Evolution of the Massa- 
chusetts Public School System, (New York, 1894), pp. 61-67; Chr. Rev., 


VI, p. 6. 
70 Reports of the Record Commissioners of Boston, XI, p. 33. 


Colonial Religious Education 41 


Free Grammar School. At the same time it was voted to 
choose as visitors gentlemen of liberal education and the 
ministers of the town. “And at their said visitation, one 
of the ministers by turns to pray with the scholars, and 
entertain ‘em with some instructions of piety especially 
adapted to their age and education.’ But the haughty 
theocrat, Dr. Increase Mather, could not brook this dese- 
cration of the ministerial prerogative, and refused to serve 
when part of the visitors were to be laymen.” 

Perhaps the spirit of the school may best be understood 
by considering the character and methods of the early 
masters. Ezekiel Cheever, who died in 1708, had long been 
the master and was perhaps the most noted of the early 
New England schoolmasters. He stamped his character 
upon the school, and the leaders of New England life whom 
he sent forth. Cotton Mather was one of his most noted 
pupils. This learned divine preached his funeral sermon 
and commented warmly on the religious spirit and exer- 
cises of the school.** In memory of his venerable master 
he composed Gratitudinis Ergo,** a poem which well illus- 
trates how the early schoolmasters turned all sorts of 
material to a religious purpose: 


“°Tis Corlet’s pains, and Cheever’s, we must own, 
That thou, New-England, art not Scythia grown. 


The Bible is the Sacred Grammar, where 
The Rules of Speaking well, contained are. 


74 Ibid., VIII, p. 65. 

72 Martin, p. 67. 

73H. F. Jenks, Catalogue of the Boston Public Latin School (Boston, 
1886), Appendix, pp. 273, 274. The following is significant: ‘‘ His piety, 
I say, his piety; and his care to infuse documents of piety into the 
scholars under his charge, that he might carry them with him to the 
Heavenly World. He so constantly prayed with us every day, and 
catechized us every week, and let fall such Holy Counsels upon us; 
he took so many occasions to make speeches unto us, that should make 
us afraid of sin and of incurring the fearful judgments of God by 
sin; that I do propose him for imitation.” 74 Ibid., pp. 276, 277. 


42 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


He taught us Lilly, and he Gospel taught; 

And us poor Children to our Savior brought. 
Master of Sentences, he gave us more 

That we in our Sententiae had before. 

We Learn’t Good Things in Tullies Offices ; 

But we from him Learn’t Better things than these. 


With Cato’s he to us the Higher gave. 
Lessons of Jesus, that our Souls do save. 


How much he did to make us Wise and Good; 

And with what Prayers, his work he did conclude. 
Concerned that when from him we Learning had, 
It might not Armed Wickedness be made! 


Who served the School, the Church did not forget ; 
But Thought, and Pray’d, and often wept for it. 
Mighty in Prayer: How did he wield the Pray’r! ” 


The successor of Cheever until 1734 was Nathaniel 
Williams, who had previously been an assistant for some 
years. He appears to have continued the old régime, em- 
phasizing especially formal religious instruction and train- 
ings 

The content of instruction in the period of Cheever is 
clear from the above poem. At the time of the Revolution 
the entrance requirement was to read a few verses from tne 
Bible. School opened with “ Attendamus” for a short 
prayer. Books then in use were Cheever’s Accidence, 
Nomenclatura Brevis, and the Colloquies of Corderius.*® 


75 Tbid., p. 280. In the funeral sermon for Williams, Rev. Thomas 
Prince commented in these words: “‘ Here he displayed his singular 
talent for this laborious and important service, being very diligent and 
faithful; applying himself to bring on the children both in virtue, learn- 
ing, and good manners; praying with them every morning and evening, 
instructing them in religious principles, especially on Saturdays, and 
affectionately recommending the practice to them.” 

76H. F. Jenks, The Boston Public Latin School, 1635-1880 (Cam- 
bridge, 1881), pp. 10-12. 


Colonial Religious Education 43 


The Accidence “* was simply a grammar of Latin forms and 
rules in English, with no religious material, doubtless be- 
cause there were no selections for translation. The title 
page of the 1838 edition states that it had been used in the 
schools of this country for a hundred and fifty years pre- 
vious to 1800. The Nomenclatura Brevis** was a Latin 
vocabulary, with Latin and English in parallel columns, 
giving an encyclopedic knowledge like the books of 
Comenius. The words were arranged systematically under 
33 heads, including birds, beasts, fishes, herbs, etc. The fol- 
lowing will indicate the proportion of religious material: 1. 
Of the true God. 2. Of God the Father. 3. Of God the Son. 
4. Of the Holy Ghost. 5. Of false Gods. 6. Of the Crea- 
tures. 7. Of rational Creatures. 16. Of the Understanding, 
Will, and Affections. 25. Of Vertues and Vices. The last 
heading is a good example of the Puritan way of calling 
black black and white white. There was no false modesty. 
The Colloquies *® was the work of Maturinus Corderius, the 
master who taught John Calvin. An English edition was 
edited by Charles Hoole in 1652, and there were many edi- 
tions in various countries. John Clarke edited an edition 
brought out by Isaiah Thomas in Worcester in 1801, and 
there was a New York edition in 1816. The book consists 
of dialogues, given in Latin and English, in parallel columns, 
between pupils and between a master and pupils. There 
are many: references to prayers and Christian duties, but 
the majority of book was not religious in content. The 
Sentences referred to by Mather in his Gratitudinis Ergo 
undoubtedly were the Sententiae Pueriles, Anglo-Latinae, 
translated into English by Charles Hoole. ‘There were 
fifty-three pages of moral maxims, and seventeen pages of 
“ Holy Sentences to be taught scholars upon Holy-days.” *° 


77 Ezekiel Cheever, Latin Accidence, revised from 18th ed. (Boston, 
1838). 

78 Nomenclatura Brevis per F. G. (Boston, 1735). 

79 Maturinus Corderius, School-Colloquies (London, 1676). 

80 Leonard Culman, Sententiae Pueriles, Anglo-Latinae (Boston, 1723 


ed.). 


44 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


From the above we may conclude that the purpose and 
spirit of the Latin Grammar Schools was distinctly re- 
ligious; and while much of the material was in Latin, this 
did not prevent the learning of religious ideas through 
this medium, or incidentally from the spirit of the master. 
Prayer and other religious training was a definite part of 
the school exercises. 

When we turn to the elementary schools, it seems that 
the traditional three R’s might more appropriately have 
been the four R’s— Reading, ’Riting, ’Rithmetic, and Re- 
ligion. The colonial laws referred to previously and the 
provisions in the towns have indicated in many places the 
religious purpose and the duties required of masters in 
teaching the principles of religion. But whether this is 
mentioned specifically or not, the masters could not well 
have avoided it, for all the colonial textbooks were filled 
with religious material. 

The oldest school regulations available are those of Dor- 
chester in 1645, drawn up by three wardens who were 
authorized to make special rules for the training up of 
children in religion, learning, and civility. There was a 
democratic flavor in that rich and poor were to be treated 
alike, and the majority of the inhabitants were to consent 
to the schoolmaster. Every second day in the week the 
scholars must be called together between twelve and one, 
to examine what they learned on the Sabbath. Prayer was 
provided for morning and evening. The rod of correction 
might be used because it was an ordinance of God. With 
reference to catechizing, the rules were specific to the min- 
ute: 

‘Every sixth day of the week at two of the clock in 
the afternoon he shall catechize his scholars in the princi- 
ples of the Christian religion, either in some Catechism 
which the wardens shall provide and present, or in defect 
thereof in some other.” ®+ 

The catechism was an important means of religious educa- 

81 Reports of the Record Commissioners of Boston, IV, pp. 54-57. 


Colonial Religious Education 45 


tion. The Company records of April 16, 1628, show that they 
purchased to send over two dozen and ten catechisms, along 
with fifty-five other religious works, and a donated copy 
of Calvin’s Institutions.8* Following the request of the 
General Court to the elders, there was printed in 1656 a 
Catechism by John Cotton, of which the title page reads: 
“ Spiritual Milk for Boston Babes in either England Drawn 
out of the Breasts of both Testaments for their soul’s nour- 
ishment.” Many reprints indicate that it was extensively 
used.*? After the Westminster Shorter Catechism was 
printed for official use in London in 1647, it gradually super- 
seded the others in New England.** 

When the seventeenth century children first trudged to 
school they carried the old hornbooks, really not books at 
all, but a sheet of printed material pasted on a flat board 
and covered with horn to preserve the precious print. 
Frequently the form of the wood was that of a cross, to 
impress the children symbolically with the death of Christ ; 
when later the form became that of a hand mirror, the 
figure of a cross was frequently printed at the top. The 
hornbooks contained the alphabet, the Lord’s prayer, a 
creed, and sometimes an invocation or biblical sentences. 
In England the battledores took the place of the horn- 
books later, but it is not certain whether they were used in 
Massachusetts. At any rate, the content was practically 
the same.*® 

A book which paved the way to the primers was The 
Protestant Tutor for Children,*®° an English book of which 


82 Transactions and Collections of the American Antiquarian Society, 
III, p. 30¢e. 

83 Littlefield, p. 107. 

84 Jbid., p. 109. 

85 Littlefield, pp. 110-117; Holtz, pp. 54-56. 

86 Copies of this book are very rare. The American Antiquarian 
Library has a copy with the title page missing, supposed to be the only 
copy in America, and probably printed in Boston in 1685. A fragment 
of another copy was printed in Boston in 1685, but only the catechism 
and Verses of John Rogers are intact. 


46 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


a Boston edition was published in 1685. It starts with the 
alphabet, the Lord’s prayer, the creed, and Ten Command- 
ments, like the hornbook. There follow easy lessons for 
reading, mainly from the Bible, and then A Prospect of 
Popery and A Brief Account of the Horrid and Damnable 
Plot in the Vear 1678. Contrived by the Papists for the 
Murdering of his Majesty. This was an atrocious book for 
children, reflecting all too well the grim spirit of the times. 
It contained pictures of persons burning at the stake, being 
strangled, and being flayed while hanging by the heels from 
a limb. Similar horrible brutalities were described. There 
was a catechism and at least in some editions the Verses 
made by Mr. John Rogers, a Martyr in Q. Maries Reign. 
These verses he was supposed to have composed to ad- 
monish children in the intervals between gusts of flames 
while at the stake. Since there is a Boston edition, it is 
probable that the book was used in Massachusetts. 

The origin of the primer in England has already been 
shown to have been a book of prayers issued by Henry 
VIII. Subsequently these came to be used as school text- 
books. They were undoubtedly used in the Massachusetts 
schools, probably with additions of such material as the 
Rogers Verses and the catechism. Out of this grew the 
famous New England Primer, the oldest known one being 
published in 1727.87 The early editions of this contained 
entirely religious material. The alphabet was taught by the 
familiar cuts and verses of Biblical and theological lore, 
running through from 


“In Adam’s Fall, 
We sinned All ” 


to 


“ Zaccheus he 
Did climb the Tree 
Our Lord to see.” 


87 Holtz, pp. 56-59. 


Colonial Religious Education 47 


Other material consisted of Bible questions and answers, 
Proverbs, the Lord’s prayer, the Apostles’ Creed, Watts’ 
Cradle Hymn, and a catechism.** The Primer was im- 
proved in 1777, and the title page of an edition ** of this 
in 1779 reads: The New England Primer, Improved to 
which is added, The Assembly of Divines, and Mr. Cotton’s 
Catechism. In this there is included a Dialogue between 
Christ, Youth, and the Devil. At this time began the 
inclusion of what might be called moral as distinguished 
from religious content. Soon after the reading books and 
spellers began to take the place of the Primer, and the 
Cotton Catechism, and some of the religious material was 
left out, and ethical and moral material substituted.°° Of 
the Primer Clifton Johnson says: “‘ No book save the Bible 
did more to form New England character.” ® And this 
character was formed in terms of Calvinistic theology. _ 
Among the books classified as spellers, we find the earliest 
were printed at Cambridge between 1642 and 1645 by 
Stephen Day. During the same century Coote’s English 
Schoolmaster was used extensively in New England. This 
book of seventy-nine pages had eighteen of religious ma- 
terial, including the Short Catechism, necessary observa- 
tions of a Christian, prayers, and psalms.°? But the really 
popular spellers began with The English Instructor,®? of 
which the first Boston edition was printed in 1731. The 
book was dedicated to the officers of the charity schools of 
London and Westminster and the aim and content may 
be judged from the statement that it was ‘‘ more important 
to instruct them in the knowledge and practice of our holy 
religion.” It contained moral fables, catechism, prayers, 
etc. The following excerpt contained a good truth for 
88 Martin, pp. 56—61. 
9 This edition was published in Boston, 1779. 
80 Holtz, pp. 59-60. 
91 Johnson, p. 99. 
82 Littlefield, pp. 118-120. 


93 Henry Dixon, The English Instructor. Title page missing. A later 
edition bears the title, 8th ed. (Boston, 1746). 


oO 


48 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


parents regarding the importance of training, if not so 
useful for children: 


An Old Crab and a Young 


“Child, (says the Mother) you must use yourself to walk 
Sstreight, without Skewing and Shailing so at every step 
you set. 

Pray, Mother, (says the young Crab) do but set the 
Example yourself, and I’ll follow you.” ** 


A later speller, “ intended for children of an higher class,” 
and “designed as well to instruct them in the duties of 
religion, as to render the initiatory part of education easy, 
profitable, and delightful,’ was entitled The Youth’s In- 
structor ®*° and contained three parts, the first two like The 
English Instructor, and the third devoted to arithmetic. It 
contained twelve pages of Biblical stories based on the Old 
Testament, the creed, the Ten Commandments, and prayers. 
All the selections were of a moral or religious tone. From 
1740 to 1800 a very popular speller was Dilworth’s New 
Guide to the English Tongue.® ‘The preface is dated from 
the Wapping-School, England, June 14, 1740, and says that 
the Reformation has diminished ignorance because the Word 
of God is a lantern to our feet and light unto our paths, 
and every Protestant believes that it is his duty to promote 
Christian knowledge. In the Scripture quotations easy 
words are substituted. Students are advised to read the 
Spectator and Tatler rather than Grubstreet papers and 
lewd plays. The fourth part is devoted to divine and moral 
sentences, and practically all the reading is of a religious 
character. There are several short forms of prayer for 
morning and evening in school. A copy printed in 1782 
bears the autograph, “ John Quincy Adams, his book.” It 

94 The English Instructor, p. 99. 


95 The Youth’s Instructor, coll. from Dixon et al., (Boston, 1757). 
96 Thomas Dilworth, New Guide to the English Tongue. No title 


page. 


Colonial Religious Education 49 


is practically all religious, with ten prayers and two hymns. 
On such mental diet were presidents trained of old! 

The Friends had their own speller, the work of George Fox, 
and an edition of it was published in Boston in 1743. This 
had forty-four pages devoted to scriptural names, weights, 
measures, the catechism, and proverbs, but with the ex- 
ception of the catechism it was not so severely theological 
as the current books. There were also forty-nine pages of 
miscellaneous matter.°7 This was characteristic of changes 
in all the books, for new editions by the time of the Revolu- 
tion were including some moral, political, and social ele- 
ments with the religious.%® 

Even the teaching of arithmetic was given a religious pur- 
pose. It was studied to help pupils find the chapters and 
verses of the Bible and problems concerned Biblical mat- 
ters. Some arithmetic books were justified on the ground 
that they would help to appreciate the works of God’s 
creation.°® 

The titles of two books advertised in 1727 help to show 
the kind of literature for which children were prepared 
in school. One book was entitled Godly Children their 
Parents Joy; Exhibited in several Sermons. A more strik- 
ing title was A Token for Youth, or Comfort to Children. 
Being the Life and Christian Experience of the Wonderful 
Workings of the Spirit of God on Cartaret Rede ; From her 
Infancy to her last Moments, (aged 6 yrs., 11 Months and 
3 Days) as it was faithfully taken from her Mouth by a 
particular friend. The Twenty-fifth Ed. 

Reading books did not become an element in education 
during the colonial period. Rather after the preliminary 
work in primers and spellers the children were advanced 
in classes through the Psalter, Testament, and Bible.1% 


97 Holtz, pp. 64, 65. 

98 Ibid., p. 66. 

99 Holtz, p. 68. 

100 The Boston Weekly News-Letter, Feb. 9-16, 1727. 
101 Johnson, p. 185: Littlefield, p..103; Slafter, II, p. 15. 


50 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


The list of pupils in Roxbury in 1770 shows the following: 
Latin, 9; Cypherers, 20; Writers, 17; Testament, 10; 
Psalter, 10; Spellers, 19.1°? Rev. Dr. Cooley of Granville, 
who taught in the schools of Western Massachusetts, says 
of conditions there at the time of the Revolution: 

“The only school books were Dilworth’s spelling book, 
the primer, the Bible. ... Reading, spelling, a few of the 
business rules of arithmetic, the catechism and writing 
legibly, was the amount of common school education for 
sons; and for daughters, still less.” 1° 

From this study of the content of colonial education in 
Massachusetts, no question can be raised as to whether 
the state supported religious education. The main purpose 
was to enhance religion and practically everything was de- 
termined by this aim. 

Education was also employed by the Puritan state as a 
means of Christianizing and civilizing the Indians. It will 
be recalled that this had been stated in the Charter as a 
principal end of the plantation.‘°* Before the government 
was transferred, Governor Matthew Craddock wrote to the 
colony: 

“We trust you will not be unmindful of the main end of 
our plantation, by endeavoring to bring the Indians to the 
knowledge of the Gospel; as also to endeavor to get some 
of their children to train up to reading, and consequently 
to religion, whilest they are young.” 2° 

It was under the energetic leadership of John Eliot that 
the colony attempted to execute this commission. He pre- 
pared The Indian Primer, printed in 1669, which contained 
the Lord’s prayer, a creed, exposition of the creed, degrees 
of Christian duties, the large catechism, the Ten Command- 
ments, the short catechism, and the names in order of the 


102 Dillaway, p. 66. 

103 Ariel Parish, History of Education and Educational Institutions 
in Western Massachusetts (Springfield, 1855), p. 513. 

204 Supra, p..10. 

105 Records of the Gov. and Co. of Mass. Bay, I, p. 384. 


Colonial Religious Education 51 


Old and New Testament.'°® He translated into the Indian 
tongue the Bible and other books, such as a grammar, sing- 
ing psalms, the Practice of Piety, Baxter's Call to the 
Unconverted. All these were printed at the charge of the 
corporation stock. From the same treasury came the pay- 
ment for diet, apparel, books, and schooling in fitting 
Indian youth to be “ learned and able preachers unto their 
countrymen.” But this fond hope was destined to be dis- 
appointed, for the Indians became discouraged, took up other 
callings, and those who stuck to their books were carried 
off by tuberculosis.1°7 

A report to the King, in May, 1665, in answer to ques- 
tions, carried the information that the work of “ civilizing 
and instructing the Indians in the knowledge of God and 
humane learning” was being carried out through a small 
college or “ fabricke of bricke erected in Cambridge” for 
the especial use of Indian students at Harvard. The state 
paid the expenses of Indians in schools and colleges, and 
persons were appointed to instruct them in civility and 
religion.*°° 

The subject of Indian education was also considered at 
a meeting of the Commissioners of the United Colonies 
in 1679. A motion to provide schools to teach them Eng- 
lish was approved, as it was thought this would be likely 
“to reduce them to civility; and capassitate them to be 
religiously instructed.” Unfortunately the question of 
finance was postponed until the next meeting.’°° 

But whatever the intentions, only one Indian graduated 
from Harvard and the Puritans could not get on friendly 
terms with the Eastern Indians. In 1716 they thought they 
saw an opportunity to carry out the professed intention 
of their fathers to instruct them in religion and learning, 


106 Littlefield, pp. 147-148. 

107 Daniel Gookin, Historical Collections of the Indians in New 
England, in Collections of the Mass. Hist. Soc., ser. 1, 1, p. 172. 

108 Records of the Gov. and Co. of Mass. Bay, IV, Pt. Il, p. 198. 

109 Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, X, p. 368. 


52 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


and after a report by a committee they voted to pay a 
minister to them, to send also an assistant schoolmaster, 
and to spend £10 for toys ‘‘ to encourage em to lern.” 1"° 

But the Eastern Indians and the Puritans do not seem to 
have developed into a peaceful Christian brotherhood, for 
in 1723 representatives of the Six Nations and the Mohegun 
and Scatacosk Indians of New York journeyed all the way 
to Boston with their pots and kettles to be mended by the 
white brothers, prepared to make a treaty that they should 
join in fighting the Eastern Indians. Under the circum- 
stances the General Court voted to offer to give one or two 
male youths of each tribe a Christian education at the col- 
lege, that they might go back to their tribes and teach them 
the Christian faith, and to inquire whether the tribes would 
receive a minister and schoolmaster.14t The offer was com- 
municated to the Indians by the Lieutenant Governor, but 
at the same time it was broadly hinted that there were 
rewards offered for the scalps of Eastern Indians and if 
the young braves present could scurry around and bring 
in a few while waiting it would not be amiss.1!” 

The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel was in- 
terested in Indian education and the state left most of 
the work to this private agency.’**> Just before the French 
and Indian War the English were making strong efforts 
to keep the Six Nations from joining the French. A group 
of them settled at Stockbridge and were granted a tract 
four miles square, with a reservation of two hundred acres 
for a school and one hundred for the use of the missionary. 
If improved and kept for ten years it was to be theirs. 
£200 were appropriated to the Society for the Propagation 
of the Gospel, provided they furnished a missionary and 
schoolmaster to instruct in reading and writing and the 
principles of the Christian religion.1** 

110 Acts and Resolves, Province, IX, 500. 

111 Journal of the House of Representatives, 1723-1724, Pp. 177, 178. 

te Ltd 0.12 90,120 7 


113 Collections of the Mass. Hist. Soc., ser. 6, II, p. 169. 
114 Acts and Resolves, Province, XIV, pp. 488, 563, 683. 


CHAPTER IV 


COLONIAL SUPPORT OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 
IN HARVARD COLLEGE 


To DETERMINE whether Harvard College was the child of 
the state or of church and private enterprise presents a 
legal problem which has never been clearly settled. The 
reason for the obscurity is due to the fact that it was pro- 
moted by the people of the Massachusetts colonies, and 
their political and religious and educational institutions 
were so peculiarly interwoven and they were themselves so 
homogeneous, that it was to them a matter of indifference 
through which agencies they carried out their purpose. 
That purpose has been clearly expressed by the writer of 
New England’s First Fruits, published in London in 1643: 

“ ... one of the next things we longed for and looked 
after was to advance learning and perpetuate it to pos- 
terity; dreading to leave an illiterate ministry to the 
churches, when our present ministers shall lie in the dust. 

Master Dunster has so seasoned them with the 
principles of divinity and Christianity, that we have to our 
great comfort (and in truth) beyond our hopes, beheld their 
progress in learning and godliness also.” * 

The origin of the college in the gift of Rev. John 
Harvard’s library is significant because this was for the 
time a great collection of theological works and it stamped 
the college from the beginning as a place for the production 
of ministers. In the collection were writings of such the- 
ologians as Ames, Aquinas, Bellarmine, Beza, Broughton, 
Chrysostom, Calvin, Duns Scotus, Luther, and Pelagius.? 


1 In Collections of the Mass. Hist. Soc., ser. 1, 1, pp. 242-243. 
2 goth An. Rept. of Bd. of Ed., 1875-1876, p. 51. 


53 


54 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


There appears no evidence that he intended to become in 
law a first donor with the rights appertaining thereto. 

The administration of the institution under the colonial 
charter rather indicates that the colony assumed full control. 
When in 1636 it made the initial appropriation of £400 to 
go with the Harvard Library, it provided for its administra- 
tion by six magistrates and six elders.? After some of these 
had moved, the General Court in 1642 created what came 
to be known later as the Board of Overseers. It provided 
that the Governor, his deputy, all magistrates, and the 
teaching elders of the six next adjoining towns, 7. e., Cam- 
bridge, Watertown, Charlestown, Boston, Roxbury, and 
Dorchester, with the president of the college, should act 
as trustees and make rules for “ piety, morality, and learn- 
ing,’ and control the funds.* In 1650 a charter was granted 
to the college and by this instrument the President and 
Fellows became the corporation, but with the Board of 
Overseers not abolished and retaining a veto power. The 
purpose as indicated in the charter was the “ education of 
English and Indian youth of the country in knowledge and 
godliness.” ° The college never accepted or acted under a 
new charter conferred in 1672. When the colony charter 
was cancelled in 1684 the college charter became null and 
void, and during the interval until the legislation of 1707 
under the provincial charter the governors controlled the 
institution arbitrarily.® 

After the £400 initial appropiation, the General Court 
in 1640 granted the ferry over the Charles River, a grant 
which was later to prove a fruitful subject of litigation.? 
In 1650 there was an annual appropriation of £100 when 
the charter was given and in 1653 a grant of 2,000 
acres of land was added.* But in 1652 the General Court 


3 Records of the Gov. and Co. of Mass. Bay, I, p. 183. 
4 Ibid., II, -p. 30. 

5 Ibid., IV, Pt. I, pp. 12-14. 

6 Sen. Doc. 158, 1849. 

7 Records of the Gov. and Co. of Mass. Bay, I, p. 304. 
8 Ibid., IV, Pt. I. pp. 12-14; H. R. Doc. 28, 1827. 


Religious Education in Harvard College 55 


answered a petition for funds by telling the officers of the 
college to write to the elders of the churches, asking them 
to use their influence to secure a voluntary contribution 
from the towns where they resided.® 

That this activity must have had the royal favor, appears 
from the instructions to commissioners in 1665 to inquire 
among other matters into “what progress hath been to- 
wards the foundation and maintenance of any college or 
schools for the education of youth, and in order to the con- 
version of infidels.’’ *° 

Harvard was not entirely under the fostering care of the 
Bay colony. A petition of Mr. Shepard, the pastor at Cam- 
bridge, was presented to the Commissioners of the United 
Colonies at their meeting in September, 1644, alleging that 
in Christian commonwealths those in charge provided for 
public schools to train men for all callings in church and 
commonwealth, to prevent degeneracy into sin and profane- 
ness. The Commissioners approved the sentiments and re- 
ferred the matter to their General Courts.1t This appar- 
ently ended the matter, but in 1671 we find the Governor 
and Council of the Bay Colony writing to Gov. Thomas 
Prince of Plymouth, inviting them to join in the support 
of Harvard college, for these reasons: 

“How far the glory of God, the interest of religion, the 
future weal, supply, and propagation of these churches 
of Christ, stands concerned therein, we need not, especially 
unto yourselves, with many words insist on.” +? The Plym- 
outh Court discharged the obligation by exhorting the 
ministers and elders to take contributions, because many 
worthy and useful persons had come forth for service in 
church and commonwealth." 

Thus both Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth definitely 


We Lbid AN YP ti ep. ot: 

209 1030°1V Pt. 11, p.2190: 

11 Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, IX, p. 20. 

12 In Collections of the Mass. Hist. Soc., ser. 1. V1, pp. 95, 96. 

13 Records of the Colony of New Plymouth, XI, pp. 233, 237. 


56 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


approved the college as worthy of public support, and es- 
pecially because 1t was an agency for religious education. 
While the purpose was of course to teach orthodox Calvin- 
ism, the charter of 1650 was not sectarian in character and 
no theological tests were required of its officers. All re- 
ligious sects and parties were on an equal basis. In fact 
the two first presidents were really Baptist in some of 
their theology, and Dunster served for fourteen years be- 
fore being compelled to resign because of a public statement 
that he was opposed to infant baptism. But his successor, 
Chauncy, was likewise opposed to sprinkling. Still this 
did not prevent the place being virtually a theological sem- 
inary.1* The daily routine and the curriculum were care- 
fully worked out with this end in view. 

The earliest regulations we have are The Laws, Liber- 
ties and Orders of Harvard College, confirmed by the 
President and Overseers in 1642 and published for the 
guidance of students. By these the students were exhorted 
“to lay Christ in the bottom, as the only foundation of all 
sound knowledge and learning.” 


1. Latin and Greek were the entrance requirements. 

2. “ Every one shall consider the main end of his life and studies, 
to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life; John XVII, 3.” 

3. ““Seeing the Lord giveth wisdom, every one shall seriously, by 
prayer in secret, seek wisdom of him; Proverbs, II, 2, 3.” 

4. Students were required to read the Scriptures twice daily and 
answer questions of tutors on their reading. 

5. They were advised to shun the neglect of God’s ordinances. in 
the public church assembly and to be ready to report to their tutors 
as to how they had profited from the sermon. “ And all Sophisters 
and Bachelors . . . shall publicly repeat sermons in the Hall, whenever 
they are called forth.” 

6. “They shall eschew all profanation of God’s holy name, attri- 


14 Josiah Quincy, The History of Harvard University, 2v. (Cam- 
bridge, 1840), I, pp. 44-52; Bush, p. 44. 

15 This document is reproduced in Quincy, J, pp. 515-517 and the 
substance is given in New England’s First Fruits in Collections of the 
Mass. Hist. Soc., ser. 1. I, pp. 243-244. Parts relating to religious 
education are given here. 


Religious Education in Harvard College 57 


butes, word, ordinances, and times of worship; and study, with reverence 
and love, carefully to retain God and his truth in their minds.” 

13. “The scholars shall never use their mother tongue, except that 
in public exercises of oratory, or such like, they be permitted.” 

14. Scholars who were absent from lectures or prayers without urgent 
necessity or leave of the tutor, when in health, were liable to admonition 
or punishment, if they offended more than once a week. 

17. Admonition and correction were also provided, ‘if any scholar 
shall transgress any of the laws of God, or the House, out of per- 
verseness, or apparent negligence.” 

18. ‘“ Every scholar, that on proof is found able to read the original 
of the Old and New Testament into the Latin tongue, and to resolve 
them logically, withal being of honest life and conversation, and at any 
public act hath the approbation of the Overseers and Master of the 
college, may be invested with his first degree.” 


Likewise in the beginning the curriculum included such 
subjects as Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, Bible Study, and “ Di- . 
vinity Catecheticall.”+® In 1650 the Overseers, to prevent 
the misuse of time to the dishonor of God and disappoint- 
ment of friends, provided for an annual visitation of three 
weeks, when pupils were expected to submit to an examina- 
tion by all comers, in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Rhetoric, 
Logic, and Physics.’7 These studies were calculated to be 
the necessary equipment for ministers, and the Magnalia 
of Cotton Mather declares that half the graduates of Har- 
vard for the first fifty years became members of that 
profession.1® 

The daily exercises of the college included Scripture read- 
ing and prayer at seven a.m. and five p.m.1® Neal states 
that it was the duty of the president to pray and expound 
a chapter morning and evening. In the morning the more 
advanced students read out of Hebrew into Greek, and the 
freshmen in the evening read out of Latin into Greek, each 
taking a verse in turn.°° 


16 New England’s First Fruits, pp. 244, 245. 
17 Quincy, I, pp. 517-519. 

18 Bush, p. 36. 

19 New England’s First Fruits, p. 244. 

er iiNeal1,. pps203,204, 


58 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


The greater degree of toleration, established by the Char- 
ter of 1691 for the Province, led to new demands on the 
part of those who differed from the strict Calvinism of the 
original settlers for a voice in the management of the col- 
lege, and there was a hectic period of attempts to get a new 
charter. The liberal Congregationalists and the Episco- 
palians were fighting particularly against Increase and Cot- 
ton Mather as representatives of the old order. A clergy- 
man of the Church of England, Ratcliffe, had attended the 
Commencement officially in 1686, but President Mather 
monopolized all the praying and the Episcopalians deemed 
it an indignity.*t Mather took the offensive at the very 
beginning of the provincial period and got a charter through 
the General Court which abolished the Board of Overseers 
and thus prolonged the power of the hierarchy. He also 
attempted to get Leverett, a liberal, out of the Corpora- 
tion.2? The religious purpose was still manifested in the 
preamble in these words: 

“Whereas, the due encouragement of all good literature, 
arts, and sciences will tend to the honor of God, advantage 
of the Christian Protestant religion, . . .” 7° 

But the Privy Council disallowed this charter on August 
22, 1695, and the charter was again disallowed on November 
24, 1698; the reason was that the abolition of the Board of 
Overseers deprived the King of visitors of the college.” 
Meantime Lt. Gov. Stoughton reorganized the government 
of the former President and Fellows, and the custom devel- 
oped of the House nominating and the Senate confirming 
the officers.** In 1699 Increase Mather and seven clergy- 
men, previously members of the Corporation, presented a 
petition for a new charter to the Governor and General 
Court, in the course of which they said: 

‘“ And we do more particularly pray, that, in the charter 


a Quincy, bY, pp. 58, 65-67. 

22 [bid., pp. 68-87. 

23 Acts and Resolves, Province, I. pp. 38-39; 288-290. 
24 Sen. Doc. 158, 1849. 


Religious Education in Harvard College 59 


for the college, our holy religion may be secured to us and 
unto our posterity, by a provision, that no person shall be 
chosen President or Fellow of the college, but such as de- 
clare their adherence unto the principles of reformation, 
which were espoused and intended by those who first settled 
the country and founded the college, and have hitherto been 
the general profession of New England; and that the power 
of visitation be so expressed, as that we may have reason 
to hope that the charter will be favored with the royal 
approbation.” °° 

Even if the Overseers could not be abolished, it was 
apparently hoped by these means to retain control in the 
hands of the orthodox Congregationalists. Doubtless Gov. 
Bellamont regarded it as a barrier to Anglicans, but it was 
also directed against liberal Congregationalists like Leverett 
and Brattle of the Corporation. A deadlock ensued when 
Gov. Bellamont objected to the bill with this religious test, 
as passed by the General Court, and the House refused to 
recede from its position. Bellamont then suggested getting 
a charter directly from the King.*° The following year a 
new charter reserving to the Governor and Council the 
right of visitation and with no religious test for officers 
and instructors, but with the orthodox people holding a 
majority of the seats in the Corporation named in the char- 
ter, was refused by the King.*? Episcopalian discontent 
with the prevailing situation is revealed by a charter for a 
proposed college in New Haven sent by Samuel Sewall and 
Addington because they aver there was a decay of schools 
and colleges in Massachusetts, and they hoped they will 
prosper in Connecticut.*® 

The failure of Increase Mather to secure the presidency 
in 1701 and the election of the liberal Leverett in 1707 


25 The document is given in Quincy, I, p. 99. Cf. Acts and Resolves, 
Province, I, p. 100 for the bill. 

26 Quincy, I, pp. 100-101. 

27 Ibid., I, pp. 103-108; Sen. Doc. 158, 18409. 

28 Quincy, I, pp. 519-520. 


60 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


marked the change in control from the strict to the liberal 
group of Congregationalists.2® Much of the quarrel was 
personal and it probably did not greatly affect the quality 
of the religious education given. The Fellows chose Lev- 
erett as a “very able and faithful instrument to promote 
the Holy Religion here practiced and established,’ and 
thirty-nine ministers guaranteed his religion and learning 
and addressed the Governor urging his selection and main- 
tenance by the General Court.°° In the same year a law 
was passed reviving the act of 1650 to serve as a charter, 
since the attempt to get one through the King had been 
given up. A salary of £150 was at the same time voted 
to President Leverett. In the following year the corpora- 
tion was reduced to seven, as in the 1650 act.*!. The result 
was that the Overseers tended to give a democratic control 
subject to popular changes in politics and religion, while 
the Corporation continued the stability and _ theological 
views of a group, as it developed, the less orthodox group. 
This difference, theologically, led to controversy even in 
the administration of Leverett.*? 

But all the parties wanted religious education and there 
is evidence it was not wanting in the college. A case 
occurred in 1674 where a student was whipped and sus- 
pended from taking his degree for speaking blasphemous 
words, and the corporal punishment was preceded and 
followed by prayer.** About 1700 there was compulsory 
church attendance at a church in Cambridge and in a par- 
ticular gallery. But Dr. Increase Mather objected to ex- 
pounding the Scriptures at morning and evening prayers to 
forty or fifty children who were incapable of edification by 
such exercises. But under Leverett the custom was re- 
vived. The freshmen were permitted to use English Bibles, 


29 Ibid., I, pp. 125-157. 

80 Acts and Resolves, Province, VIII, pp. 7905, 796. 
81 Quincy, I, pp. 158-161; Sen. Doc. 158, 1849. 
32 Bush, pp. 39, 40. 

83 Quincy, I, p. 189. 


Religious Education in Harvard College 61 


but those beyond translated the Hebrew Old Testament in 
the morning and the English or Latin New Testament in 
the afternoon into Greek. The subject of Scripture ex- 
position was brought up by Judge Sewall in Overseers’ 
meeting in 1718, and the President replied that he must be 
supported if he had to do it. In consequence it was voted 
that the President should “ entertain the students with ex- 
positions of the Holy Scriptures.” A change was made in 
1725 relaxing the regime somewhat, so that thereafter the 
Scripture reading was at the rooms of the tutors. For the 
morning service the President read and expounded a chapter 
of the Old Testament and offered a short prayer. The 
evening reading was from the New Testament. Instead of 
the exposition on Saturday and Sunday, psalms were sung. 
On Sunday evening a student repeated the morning sermon 
at church.** At about the same time a committee reported 
to the Board of Overseers that books in divinity were not 
especially recommended, but students read promiscously 
in authors of different denominations. A Greek catechism 
and Wallebius’ and Ames’s systems of divinity were used as 
texts. It was reported that prayers and readings were 
usually attended.*° 

Meantime the strict Calvinists who controlled the Board 
of Overseers and the lower house of the legislature at- 
tempted to make the college an instrument of their system 
of belief, in opposition to the Corporation, which was con- 
ducting the college in a less sectarian spirit and was con- 
ciliatory toward the Episcopalians. It happened that the 
chief benefactor of theological education in the college at 
this time was an English Baptist merchant, Hollis by name, 
who founded the Hollisian Professorship of Divinity. The 
only test he required of the incumbent was that he sub- 
scribe to his belief that the Scriptures of the Old and New 
Testaments were the only perfect rule of faith and man- 


34 Bush, pp. 32-33; Quincy, I, Appendix, pp. 494-495 gives an extract 
from Sewall’s Diary regarding his motion. 


35 Quincy, I, pp. 319-320. 


62 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


ners.°* In establishing a fund for poor students he merely 
specified that none should be excluded on account of his 
belief and practice of adult baptism, if he was sober and 
religiously inclined.’? This shows that Hollis desired to do 
no more than provide that nothing would be done to ex- 
clude members of his own denomination from the benefits 
of his generosity. He desired to exclude no Christians. 
But when Professor Wigglesworth was elected as the first 
incumbent in 1722, the strict Calvinists in the Board of 
Overseers established a precedent by recording that he 
had assented to the following propositions: 

“1. To Dr. Ames’s Medulla Theologiae. 2. To the Con- 
fession of Faith contained in the Assembly’s Catechism. 
3. To the doctrinal Articles of the Church of England. 
More particularly; 1. To the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. 
2. To the doctrine of the eternal Godhead of the blessed 
Savior. 3. To the doctrine of Predestination. 4. To the 
doctrine of special efficacious grace. 5. To the divine right 
of infant baptism.” ** 

Besides this attempt to control unfairly the generous 
provisions of a liberal Baptist, the old school party also 
tried to replace two liberal members of the Corporation by © 
two young tutors. Besides, the Overseers asked to have 
the Corporation enlarged. The upshot of the matter was 
that the House and Council adopted a report that the char- 
ter of 1650 intended resident tutors to be Fellows. To this 
attempt to exclude the non-resident members of the Corpo- 
ration who were liberal, Governor Shute objected and the 
matter had to be dropped.*® 

After this there was less strife among the Congregational- 
ists, but a determined effort was made by the Episcopalians 
to secure a position of influence beside the Congregational- 
ists. 


36 Ibid., pp. 213, 233, 234, 235, 241. 

37 Quincy, I, Appendix, p. 530, gives the Hollis letter of bequest. 
38 Tbid., p. 255. 

89 Ibid., pp. 265-305. 


Religious Education in Harvard College 63 


Since the first Episcopalian society was organized in 
Boston in 1686 under the influence of the English Gover- 
nor, the denomination had made a strong effort from Eng- 
land to secure a foothold in New England, especially 
through the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in 
Foreign Parts. Their leaders about 1725 were Dr. Cutler, 
a former president of Yale converted to Episcopacy, and 
now a minister in Boston; and Mr. Myles of King’s 
Chapel.*® Their claim was to a right to sit in the Board 
of Overseers under the law of 1642 because they were 
teaching elders of one of the six next adjacent towns, 
Boston. As a matter of fact Mr. Harris, an Episcopal 
clergyman, had sat with the Overseers in 1720, and Dr. 
Cutler and Mr. Myles had received notices of meetings. 
But after 1722 the Episcopalians were not summoned, and 
upon application in May, 1727, the Board definitely in- 
formed them they were not entitled to sit. Thereupon the 
Episcopal churches paid the necessary expenses for a peti- 
tion to the General Court, signed by seventy Episcopalians.*' 
This petition averred the college was “ the common nursery 
of piety and learning of New England in general, as well 
of those that are of the order of the Church of England 
.as of them that are of the order of the churches of New 
England.” 42 They said the Episcopalian orthodoxy was 
not in question, and their clergymen were equally ready 
to “ promote the interests of religion, good literature, and 
good manners.” #® The Harvard Board of Overseers, to 
whom the General Court first referred the petition, inter- 
preted the term teaching elder of the law of 1642 to mean 
‘pastors and teachers of a complete and Congregational 
church.” They maintained that education in Harvard was 
free to all without religious oaths or subscriptions. The 


40 Ibid., pp. 350, 356, 360, 365, 366. 

41 Foote, I, pp. 345-349. 

42 Elsie W. Clews, Educational Legislation and Administration of the 
Colonial Government (New York, 1899), pp. 53-54. 

43 Quincy, I, Appendix, pp. 560-563 gives the petition. 


64 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


management was in the hands of the Congregational order, 
but sons of the Church of England were equally welcome. 
But it was impossible to vary from the ancient charter 
ordained by the fathers.44 The General Court followed 
this advice and refused the petition.*® This ended the 
Episcopalian attempt to secure partial control. It was 
probably prompted more by denominational jealousy than 
a desire to influence the actual religious education. It 
confirms the fact that the state as well as all denominations 
believed that religious education should be a part of the 
education supervised by. the state. 

During the remainder of the colonial period, the status of 
the college changed little and there was a growing spirit 
of tolerance. The unanimous choice of President Holyoke, 
a man of liberal spirit, in 1737, was an example of this.*® 
It happened that a fellow pastor of Mr. Holyoke in Marble- 
head, Rev. John Barnard, was dining with Governor Belcher, 
when the Holyoke election was under consideration. Bar- 
nard suggested that Holyoke was well qualified for the 
presidency. 

“But,” said his Excellency, “will you vouch, Mr. 
Barnard, for Mr. Holyoke’s Calvinistical principles? ” 

“T think Mr. Holyoke as orthodox a Calvinist as any 
man; though I look upon him too much of a gentleman, 
and of too catholic a temper, to cram his principles down 
another man’s throat.” 

“Then,” said his Excellency, “I believe he must be the 
man.'))4% 

But there was still some attempt to control the orthodoxy 
of those appointed to the teaching staff. Professor Win- 
throp was elected to the Hollis Professorship of Mathe- 
matics without examining him theologically, but the Board 


44 Quincy, I, Appendix, pp. 566-571 gives the answer. 

45 Acts and Resolves, Province, XI, p. 262. 

46 Quincy, II, pp. 9, 10. 

47 Autobiography of Rev. John Barnard, in Collections of the Mass. 
Hist. Soc., ser..3, V. pp: 220-221. 


Religious Education in Harvard College 65 


of Overseers did refuse to approve a tutor until satisfied 
as to his religious beliefs in 1739. The different points of 
view are illustrated by the statement of Jonathan Edwards 
that proper religious education was not given and the reply 
of Dr. Chauncy that it was never better.** These two 
were leaders of the two wings of Congregationalists. The 
rigid Calvinists were stimulated by the preaching of Whit- 
field in 1740, who was a Calvinistic Methodist; they were 
strong in Western Massachusetts and Connecticut; and 
they were beginning to turn from Harvard and give their 
support to Yale, a strictly Calvinistic institution. On the 
other hand many of the Harvard clergy around Boston were 
considered Arminians, Arians, and Deists. Out of this 
element was to develop the Unitarian group.* 

Meantime the state had been giving intermittent financial 
assistance to this institution emphasizing religious educa- 
tion. Governor Shirley officially recognized this when in 
1741 he visited the college and made a formal Latin speech 
in which he said he would give all his care to the college 
for the promotion of learning and religion.®® In 1718 there 
had been an appropriation of £1500 and in the following 
year of £2000; in 1753 the real and personal property of the 
college was exempted from tax not to exceed £500 per an- 
num.*? Direct support was also given to religious education 
in grants to the divinity and Hebrew professors. January 
11, 1741, the Council granted £30 to Rev. Edward Wiggles- 
worth and there were subsequent grants quite regularly.*? 
In 1753 and 1754, R. Judah Monis, first publisher of a 
Hebrew Grammar in America, received grants of £40; and 
subsequently grants were continued to this professor of 
Hebrew.®? In 1765 the General Court authorized a lottery 


48 Bush, pp. 54-56. 

iis Quincy, Il, Pp. 39-71. 

8° f.bid:s I1)..p) 89. 

*l H. R. Doc. 28,) 1827. 

52 Acts and Resolves, Province, XIII, pp. 81, 203, 689. 
PRRIDIG WV DDH 02) 2725074: 


66 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


for £3,200 because it believed that the best way to excite 
private benefactions to provide lodging rooms, the Court 
having recently been at great expense in building Hollis 
Hall, and in rebuilding Harvard College.** 

Therefore during the period of the Province, the govern- 
ment partially supported the college in various ways, guided 
its destinies through the charter legislation and through 
official representation on the Board of Overseers and choice 
of other officers. The fact that religious education was 
given was a special reason for the patronage of the govern- 
ment. The influence of the King and the Governor in 
theological quarrels was on the side of toleration and 
liberality ; while the lower house particularly was usually 
devoted to the propagation of strict Calvinism. The gen- 
eral attitude of the state to the institution may be summed 
up in the words of Governor Hutchinson to the Corporation 
PPAR 0 hd 

‘““T am bound to embrace every opportunity and to im- 
prove every advantage which my present station may afford 
for the encouragement of this eminent seat of learning, 
which has been of such signal use to the province in civil 
as well as religious grounds.” *® 

The disgust of the strict Calvinists of Western Massachu- 
setts with the liberal theology of Harvard and their failure 
to control the Corporation led them in 1762 to start an 
abortive attempt to establish a new college in the interior 
of the state. In their petition for a charter for a college in 
Hampshire County they gave as a reason for it the failure 
of Harvard to propagate orthodox principles of religion and 
vital piety, a defect which they proposed to remedy.*® 
Though the Council opposed it, the House naturally sup- 
ported it. In this deadlock, the Governor suddenly signed 
a charter, an unusual act.*? But before it was delivered, 


54 Tbid., IV, p. 834. The list of grants here is not complete. 
55 The Boston Evening Post, March 25, 1771. 

SET BUSH) D157, 

57 Quincy, II, pp. r1os—r11. 


Religious Education in Harvard College 67 


the Overseers presented a remonstrance and influenced the 
Governor to drop it. They insisted that Harvard was 
founded for learning and religion and was “ the College 
of the Government.” All Christians were free to send their 
sons, but care was taken to teach good religious principles 
and morals. They must oppose a new college, which would 
be prejudicial to the general interest of literature and re- 
ligion, and from which “ comparatively unlettered persons ”’ 
would get into pulpits.°* The Overseers took the pre- 
caution to send a Circular Address *® to England and pre- 
vented the idea of an interior college of strict Calvinism 
until after the Revolution. From the financial and ad- 
ministrative standpoint the decision of the government 
appears wise at the time, and there is no evidence that 
there was desire on the part of the government to prevent 
that kind of teaching. 


58 The remonstrance is given in Quincy, Il, Appendix, pp. 464-475. 
59 Ibid., p. 477. 


CHAPTER V 
PUBLIC RELIGIOUS EDUCATION, 1780-1837 


A CONSIDERATION of the religious education publicly pro- 
vided in the period from the Revolution to the establish- 
ment of the Board of Education in 1837 requires first of 
all an understanding of the constitutional relations of 
church and state and the constitutional basis for the 
general educational system. 

We have seen that in the colonial period there had been 
established toleration for all except Catholics, while all had 
to support by taxes the religious worship desired by the 
majority of each town, except that Episcopalians might 
have their tax transferred to their minister, and Quakers 
and Baptists were exempted because of conscientious scru- 
ples, if members of a regular church society. But this 
arrangement was not working out satisfactorily to all the 
Baptists, as they were divided into paedobaptists and anti- 
paedobaptists ; frequently too the tax was illegally collected 
and endless lawsuits were necessary to get it back. The 
situation was discussed in 1771 by A Countryman in 
A Letter to a Gentleman in the Massachusetts General 
Assembly, who denied the right of rulers to use the civil 
sword to force any support of religious worship. He quoted 
Locke’s Letter on Toleration that the care of the souls does 
not belong to the civil magistrate, because that depends on 
force and religion on the inward persuasion of the mind. 
In practice he claimed Baptists were taxed for religious 
worship and cited cases at South Hadley, Montague, Shutes- 
bury, Colerain, and Chesterfield. Frequently the civil and 
ecclesiastical rates were put together and if Baptists re- 


1 The document is in American Antiquarian Society Pamphlets, 312. 
68 


Public Religious Education 69 


fused to pay their land was sold. A controversy developed 
in which a “ Catholic Baptist ” asserted the General Court 
had done all it could for the Baptists,” while an anonymous 
writer answered : 

‘“ All the bishops in Old England have not done the Bap- 
tists so much despite in 80 years past, as the Presbyterians 
have done this year to the Baptists of New England.” ® 

The town of Chelmsford in 1776 refused to exempt Bap- 
tists from paying the ministerial rate.* The significance 
for us is that the Baptists on the eve of the making of the 
state constitution were taking the lead in the attitude that the 
state had no right to promote religion. They expressed the 
principle that members of no church should not be taxed 
to support the Congregational Church, as was then the 
law. But still when the Boston Baptist ministers con- 
gratulated Governor Hutchinson on his appointment, they 
referred to him as a “ Minister of God for Good.” ® 

In addition to this religious movement toward the separa- 
tion of church and state, the political writings of Locke, 
Rousseau, and Tom Paine were leading to a new emphasis 
on individuality and the natural rights of man. This natu- 
rally led to a separation of church and state, because the 
state was not given a theological basis by these writers. 

The first attempt to give the state a frame of government, 
after the Declaration of Independence destroyed the validity 
of the old charter, was in 1777 and 1778. ‘The legislature 
secured the consent of the towns to make a constitution 
and submitted its work to them for ratification, under a reso- 
lution of March 4, 1778, to effect that a two-thirds vote 
of those voting should be necessary for ratification.’ This 
constitution provided that only Protestants could hold im- 

2 The Boston Evening Post, Jan. 7, 1771. 

PDI yatta, 177-5. 4 Waters, pp. 697-699. 

5 Appropriations for Sectarian and Private Purposes in Bulletins for 
the Constitutional Convention, 1917-1918, II, pp. 16-17. 

6 The Boston Evening Post, March 25, 1771. 


7 John Adams, Works, IV. Charles Francis Adams, ed. (Boston, 1850), 
LV e213 A 


70 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


portant offices and granted freedom of religion and worship 
to every denomination of Protestants.2 The constitution 
was hotly discussed in town meetings and at a convention 
of twelve towns at Ipswich. The latter objected to it be- 
cause there was no bill of rights defining the rights of con- 
science and because freedom of worship should be a 
natural right and not “allowed.’® This point was the 
cause of opposition led by the Baptists which was one 
reason for the rejection of the constitution by five-sixths 
of those who voted.'° 

The constitution framed by the convention which did its 
work between September, 1779, and March, 1780, is still the 
framework of government of the Commonwealth of Massa- 
chusetts, and has the distinction of being the only con- 
stitution of the original: states still in existence. John 
Adams returned from Europe just in time to be elected, 
and though not present through all the deliberations, a 
committee for the original draft was simmered down until 
it consisted of John Adams alone. Hence the constitution 
is largely his handiwork." 

One of the most difficult clauses for the convention was 
that concerning the support of public worship. The duty 
of all to worship the Supreme Being and to do it according 
to the dictates of his conscience, provided the public peace 
and worship of others was not disturbed, was adopted as 
Article II of the Declaration of Rights substantially as 
Adams wrote it.1? Article III was entirely rewritten by the 
convention after long debates. In fact Adams did not write 
the original article here, as he thought “ some of the clergy 
and graver persons than himself would be more likely to 


8 Journal of the Convention for Framing a Constitution, 1779-1780, 
Pp. 255-264. 

9 Result of the Convention of Delegates at Ipswich (Newburyport, 
1778). 

10 Appropriations for Sectarian and Private Purposes, p. 16; Adams, 
TV ip rain thy 11 Adams, IV, pp. 213-218. 

12 Edition of 1780 is in American Antiquarian Society Pamphlets, 
312. 


Public Religious Education 71 


hit the taste of the public.” In fact Adams was far ahead 
of his time in his ideas of religious freedom and realized 
that his ideas could not possibly be accepted then. The 
original committee draft stated that because a morality 
based on religion was essential to civil society, the govern- 
ment ought to provide public worship and teachers of 
morals and religion at the expense of the subject if neces- 
sary, and enjoin the attendance of the subjects where they 
can conveniently and conscientiously attend. This draft 
made no sectarian limitations, and was broad enough to 
include Catholics and deists; but it would have permitted 
the legislature to determine what the religion to which the 
taxes of non-Christians should be devoted should be, by 
removing the old town vote as to what denomination the 
town should support.’® The latter was unsatisfactory to 
the Baptists and they managed to get it modified so that 
the legislature could only order the towns to support re- 
ligion, and they could determine the type.1* As finally 
adopted the legislature was given the duty to authorize the 
towns to maintain public worship and public protestant 
teachers of piety, religion, and morality, that is clergy- 
men. Taxes paid could go where the payer actually at- 
tended the worship of a regular society. No subordination 
of one sect or denomination could be established by law.*® 


sseAdams, / LV, pp. 221, 222% 

14 Appropriations for Sectarian and Private Purposes, pp. 16, 17. 

15 Art. III is given in American Antiquarian Society Pamphlets, 312, 
as follows: “ As the happiness of a people, and the good order and pres- 
ervation of civil government, essentially depend on piety, religion and 
morality; and as these cannot be generally diffused through a com- 
munity, but by the institution of the public worship of God, and of 
public instructors in piety, religion, and morality: Therefore, to promote 
their happiness, and to secure the good order and preservation of 
their government, the people of this commonwealth have a right to 
invest their legislature with power to authorize and require, and the 
legislature shall, from time to time, authorize and require, the several 
towns, parishes, precincts and other bodies politic, or religious societies, 
to make suitable provision, at their own expense, for the institution of 
the public worship of God, and for the support and maintenance of 


72 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


Attempts were made in the debates to qualify the last 
clause by such limitations referring to Catholics as the 
following: ‘‘ whose avowed principles are not inconsistent 
with the peace and safety of society,” “ being Protestants,” 
and “except Papists.’”’ These were all rejected, as also 
a motion to expunge the whole third article..* The result 
was that all sects were theoretically on an equal basis if 
they were Christian, and hence there could be no mere 
toleration necessary for some of them. But the state def- 
initely required taxation for some Protestant church in each 
town, and in practice this would be almost universally the 
Congregational. The emphasis on teachers shows that the 
state intended this to be a part of the religious educational 
system of the state. Catechetical instruction was definitely 
a part of the work of the pastors. But in this form ratifica- 
tion was resisted by Baptists and all other liberals.1” It 
gave constant friction until the amendment of 1833, be- 
cause non-Christians had to pay to the church determined 
by the town, and members of other churches had difficulty 
in getting their tax transferred. But as John Adams said 
at the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia, “‘ a change 
in the solar system might be expected as soon as a change 
in the ecclesiastical system of Massachusetts.” 1* 


public protestant teachers of piety, religion and morality, in all cases 
where such provision shall not be made voluntarily. 

And the people of this Commonwealth have also a right to, and do, 
invest their legislature with authority to enjoin upon all the subjects 
an attendance upon the instruction of the public teachers aforesaid, 
at stated times and seasons, if there be any upon whose instructions they 
can conscientiously and conveniently attend.” 

It was further provided that towns, parishes, precincts and religious 
societies had the right to provide their own teachers. All taxes for 
worship or instruction might be applied where the payer actually at- 
tended such instruction. No subordination of one sect or denomination 
of Christians might be established by law. 

16 Journal of the Convention, p. 46. 

17 A Manual for the Constitutional Convention, 1917, pp. 22-25. 

18 Louis S. Walsh, The Early Irish Catholic Schools of Lowell, Mass. 
(Boston, 1901), p. 6 


Public Religious Education 73 


The constitution dealt with educational institutions in 
Chapter V, Sections I and II. The former related to Har- 
vard and confirmed the grants and privileges to the Presi- 
dent and Fellows because the encouragement of education 
tended “to the honor of God, the advantage of the Chris- 
tian religion, and the great benefit of this and the other 
United States of America.” ?® Other provisions of the 
section will be explained in connection with the relation of 
the state to Harvard. Section II was the original work of 
Adams, who had in mind particularly the fostering of 
learned societies and institutions for natural history.*° This 
accounts for the fact that it is ethical and political rather 
than religious in tone. But there is absolutely nothing 
in it to prevent the state from cherishing and fostering 
religious education, and it must be remembered that a mere | 
change in the form of constitution does not alter the real 
spirit of a people. The section has been preserved with- 
out change to the present.”? 

This constitution was ratified by the people and went into 
effect on the last Wednesday of October, 1780.” 


19 In American Antiquarian Society Pamphlets, 312. 

20 Adams, IV, p. 259. 

21 Section II reads as follows: 

“Wisdom and knowledge, as well as virtue, diffused generally among 
the body of the people, being necessary for the preservation of their 
rights and liberties; and as these depend on spreading the opportunities 
and advantages of education in the various parts of the country, and 
among the different orders of the people, it shall be the duty of 
legislatures and magistrates, in all future periods of this commonwealth, 
to cherish the interests of literature and sciences, and all seminaries of 
them; especially the university at Cambridge, public schools and gram- 
mar schools in the towns; to encourage private societies and public 
institutions, rewards and immunities, for the promotion of agriculture, 
arts, sciences, commerce, trades, manfactures, and a natural history of 
the country; to countenance and inculcate the principles of humanity 
and general benevolence, public and private charity, industry and 
frugality, honesty and punctuality in their dealings; sincerity, good 
humor, and all social affections, and generous sentiments, among the 
people.” 

22 Revised Laws, I, p. 50. 


74 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


While the spirit of the constitution and of the people in 
1780 was devoted to the state support of religion and 
religious education, new ideas were percolating through the 
mind of the body politic. A clear statement of what is 
now attempted in the way of separation of church and 
state was the Observations on the Importance of the 
American Revolution, by Richard Price, D.D., LL.D., Fel- 
low of the Royal Society of London and of the Academy 
of Arts and Sciences in New England, which was reprinted 
in Boston in 1784. Writing from a position distinctly 
favorable to Christianity, he maintained that state policy 
ought not to be devoted to the support of speculative 
opinions and formularies of faith, or doctrinal points. The 
state should take care of the present interests of men, their 
persons and property, and secular matters only; not of 
future interests, their souls, and ecclesiastical matters.** 

The official spirit appears rather from the annual mes- 
sages of early governors. Governor John Hancock included 
in the means of education all institutions which had a 
tendency to aid the progress of knowledge and virtue and 
approved of various laws for the compulsory observance 
of religious practices and the maintenance of public teachers 
of piety, religion, and morality, as tending to promote the 
punctual performance of civil duties.2* Likewise Governor 
Samuel Adams commended these laws, saying that while 
their ancestors in laying the foundations of civil liberty 
had in prospect the instruction of future youth in all literary 
science they considered morality and real goodness of heart 

*3 Richard Price, Observations on the Importance of the American 
Revolution (Boston, 1784), especially pp. 7, 21, 22, 26, 27, 40, 41. His 
position will be clearer by the following excerpts. 

“T am grieved, indeed, whenever I find any Christians showing a 
disposition to call in the aid of civil power to defend their religion. 
If it wants such aid it cannot be of God. The religion of Christ dis- 
claims all connection with the civil establishments of the world. It 
has suffered infinitely by their friendship.” 

‘“In the United States may religion flourish. They cannot be very 


great and happy if it does not.” 
“4 Laws and Resolves, 1792-1793, Pp. 692. 


Public Religious Education a5 


as the great basis upon which the best interest of a nation 
could be safely laid.°. And Governor Caleb Strong said 
in 1801: “ By preserving them (these institutions) there- 
fore we shall preserve the virtue and secure the happiness 
of the people.” *° | 

Before considering the compulsory laws regarding re- 
ligion, it will not be amiss to note the development of 
sects at the time. The newest element were the Catholics, 
who celebrated their first mass in 1788. A mission was 
established in Boston in 1790 and in 1803 the Protestants 
contributed to the building of a Roman Catholic church.*? 
Public taxation for its support was of course unconstitu- 
tional. The Catholic churches developed without incor- 
poration, all the property being held by the bishop of the 
diocese.?* The Boston churches of 1794 were reported as . 
Congregational, Episcopalian, Baptist, Quaker, Sandiman- 
ian, Universalist, Roman Catholic, and Methodist Episco- 
pal.2® Of the nineteen churches in 1800 there were ten 
Congregational, three Episcopalian, two Baptist, one Metho- 
dist, one Roman Catholic, one Universalist.*° 

To make sure that all inhabitants were exposed to the 
ministrations of the teachers of piety, religion, and morality, 
a fine of ten shillings was imposed in 1782, against anyone 
who for one month without proper reason absented him- 
self on the Lord’s Day.*! Ten years later the permitted 
period of absence was extended to three months and thus 
the law stood until 1835.°” 

By a law of 1786 qualified voters of a parish or precinct 


te 
o 


The Independent Chronicle, June 4, 1795. 
Laws and Resolves, 1800-1801, pp. 578-580. 
Collections of the Mass. Hist. Soc., ser. 3, Il, pp. 62-64. 
Buck, p. 126. 
Collections of the Mass. Hist. Soc., ser. 1, III, pp. 256-266. 
30 Timothy Dwight, Boston at the Beginning of the Nineteenth 
Century, in Old South Leaflets, V1, p. 230. 
31 Perpetual Laws, p. 199. 
82 Acts, 1791, chap. 58, sec. 6. The date of Acts, Laws and Resolves 
frequently differs from the date of passage, as sessions date May. 


to 


6 


a | 


te wb ts 
oO 


9 


76 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


were authorized to grant and vote money for the settlement 
and maintenance of ministers and public teachers of re- 
ligion.2? In 1800 towns, parishes, districts, precincts, and 
religious societies were required to be provided always with 
a public teacher.** Quakers had two years previously been 
exempted from all such taxes,*> and by the law of 1800 
they were specifically exempted from tax and taxes of 
those belonging and usually attending elsewhere might, if 
they were not Quakers, be transferred to that society. The 
assessors might omit the taxes entirely of this latter class.*° 
In 1804 it was judicially determined that a Methodist min- 
ister must be “ordained and settled,’ not itinerant, in 
order to have the tax of his parishioners transferred to 
him.’? Likewise were the decisions in Barnes v. Falmouth 
and Lovell v. Byfield that the minister of an unincorpo- 
rated society was not a public teacher.** By these de- 
cisions the intent of the law and constitution were somewhat 
weakened, and to obviate the complaints of small unin- 
corporated societies a law of 1811 was passed, granting 
the same rights to unincorporated as to incorporated 
societies, and to ministers whose parochial charge extended 
over several religious societies.*® The constitutionality of 
this statute was upheld in Adams v. Howe in 1817 and a 
Baptist member of an unincorporated society received dam- 
ages for the distraining and taking of his heifer for the 
support of the Congregational minister.*° 

This was the legal situation when in 1820 the people 
voted for a constitutional convention, which met on No- 
vember 15 of that year. There had previously been dis- 
cussions relative to the amendment of Article III of the 


33 Acts, 1786, chap. 10, sec. 3. 

840 Acts; 5700, chap. 87,1 Secs 12. 

PPMACEE 1 707,\ Chap. 23) 

36 Acts, 1799, chap. 87. 

2? BUCKAIDUrAT. 

38 6 Mass. 401; 7 Mass. 230; Buck, pp. 42, 43. 
89 Laws, 1811, chap. 6. 

40 r4 Mass. 340-350. 


Public Religious Education vie 


Bill of Rights, and the subject gave the convention much 
trouble.*! At this time the religious population of the state 
was divided into societies approximately as follows: Con- 
gregationalist, 373; Baptist, 153; Methodist, 67; Friends, 
39; Episcopalians, 22; Universalist, 21; others, 23.47 John 
Adams was on hand, though 85 years old, aiming to put 
all men of all religions on an equal plane before the law. 
But the conservative element would extend the equality 
to Christians only, and kept the feature of compulsory 
taxation for religion.*® It was a conservative convention 
of Federalists and Democrats, and doubtless the people 
would not have permitted more radical changes.** The 
relation to Harvard will be discussed in connection with 
the relation of the state to that institution. 

Because of the importance of the revision of the Bill 
of Rights a large committee was appointed to consider 
it, which reported that the principles of religious freedom 
and the support of public religious institutions were es- 
sential; all should pay somewhere but be free to choose the 
place; the power of the legislature to compel attendance 
should be annulled; and Christian should be substituted 
for Protestant teachers of piety, religion, and morality.*® 

There was some opposition to even the changes proposed. 
Mr. Saltonstal of Salem would only change Protestant to 
Christian.4® Mr. Hoar considered the proposed alteration 
pernicious and opposed to the fundamental principles of 
the government; it would make it impossible to tax the 
lands of non-residents anywhere and Congregationalists 
could change their church at will; religious instruction from 
the political point of view was as important as literary.*? 


41 Journal of Debates and Proceedings in Convention, 1820-1821 
(Boston, 1853), pp. VI, VII, in note at beginning. 

42 Ibid., p. 558. 

43 Adams, IV, pp. 223-224. 

44 4 Manual for the Constitutional Convention, 1917, pp. 28-33. 

45 Journal of Debates and Proceedings, pp. 32, 199-201. 

46 Ibid., pp. 346, 347. 

47 [bid., pp. 352-355. 


78 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


Mr. Tuckerman asked if Massachusetts schools would be 
what they were if independent of institutions for religious 
instruction.** 

Mr. Childs of Pittsfield proposed a substitute plan based 
on the principle that civil government depended on piety, 
religion, and morality and the institution of public wor- 
ship was necessary. But people should have the right to 
choose whether they should join any society or none, and 
churches should tax members only, and all denominations 
should have the equal protection of the laws. This was 
more in line with Baptist principles.*® Among those who 
argued that the state should not control religious matters 
or support religion were Mr. Phelps of Chester,°® Mr. 
Baldwin of Boston,®! Mr. Williams of Beverly,°? and Mr. 
Dean of Boston.®? But the plan of Mr. Childs was voted 
down in committee of the whole 161-221 and by the con- 
vention 136-246.°* 

The article of amendment finally submitted extended 
support by taxation to all public Christian teachers of 
piety, religion, and morality and equally to incorporated 
and unincorporated societies; taxes could be transferred to 
the church where the payer attended, regardless of de- 
nomination; but non-resident proprietors had the latter 
privilege only when living in the state and attending a 
church of different denomination; and compulsory attend- 
ance was dropped.®® Nevertheless the article was popularly 
rejected 19,547-11,0065.°° An amendment to the constitu- 
tion was passed providing for a regular method of amend- 
ment by legislative proposals; so thereafter change was 
possible without a convention.*” 

A further judicial interpretation of the law of 1811 was 
given in 1822, to the effect that the exemptions applied 


48 Ibid., p. 361. 63 Ibid, p. 384. 

z seo PP. 346-347. 54 Ibid., pp. 393, 558. 
50 Ibid., p. 346. 85" 1b7d., ppv 013. OLA 
51 Ibid., p. 365. °6 Ibid., pp. 633-634. 


%2 Tbid., p. 382. 
57 A Manual for the Constitutional Convention, 1917, p. 37. 


Public Religious Education 79 


to any religious society, whether Christian, Jew, Moham- 
medan, or pagan, with no requirement that they should 
support a teacher or attend worship. The Court neverthe- 
less expressed the opinion that the exemption was unwise 
and all should be compelled to contribute to public wor- 
ship. But it added the observation that to compel a 
man to attend where he is dissatisfied was not likely to 
be profitable either for instruction or moral improve- 
ment.*® 

Thus the situation continued until the ratification in 
1833 of Article XI of Amendments, which had been sub- 
mitted by the legislature. It changed Article III of the 
Bill of Rights so that religious societies were authorized 
to raise money for their pastors or religious teachers, for 
houses of worship, and for the maintenance of religious. 
instruction. Only members were liable for the above.*® 
Sentiment had now become almost unanimous for it, as 
it was carried 32,234-3,272.°° No longer was attendance 
compulsory or payment compulsory for other than mem- 
bers. In conformity thereto the law was changed so as to 
confirm all privileges of churches except as changed by the 
amendment, and it provided that only the real and personal 
property of members could be taxed. All old laws for 
support were repealed.®t As a result Governor Edward 
Everett was able to say in his Inaugural in 1836: 

“Taught by the wisdom of ages the mischief of an 
alliance of church and state, we have incorporated it into 
our system, as an article of our political faith, that religion 
is a concernment between the conscience of man and his 
creator, and exists in its greatest purity, when it rests upon 
the public sentiment of an enlightened community.” ** 

The history of the support of public Protestant teachers 
of piety, religion, and morality indicates that it was def- 
initely regarded as a type of religious education, and not a 


58 Holbrook v. Holbrook et al. 61 Laws, 1834, chap. 183. 
59 Revised Laws, I, pp. 42-43. 62 HS RS DOCH OI 836: 
60 Sen. Doc. 3, 1834. 


80 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


mere provision for worship. The close relation: of the 
clergy to the schools and their frequent catechizing confirms 
this impression. But it is also in the light of this public 
support of the church that the law and practice of the 
public schools until the establishment of the Board of 
Education in 1837 must be considered. That date is prac- 
tically coincident with the change in the Bill of Rights and 
marks a new era. 

In considering the public aspects of religious education 
after the Revolution, it should be noted that it was at 
about this time that girls began to attend the public schools 
and hence to be included. In 1784 the Boston town meet- 
ing refused to take action to provide for the education of 
girls, in accordance with a report of the school committee 
that the overseers of the poor be authorized to give certifi- 
cates for the payment of schoolmasters and schoolmis- 
tresses for instructing ‘‘ the female children of a suitable age 
in common needlework.” ** But soon after this they began 
to attend. Northampton in 1788 refused to be of any ex- 
pense in schooling girls, but four years later voted to admit 
them after the town was indicted for neglect.** In 1784 
Dorchester permitted girls who could read in a Psalter to 
attend the grammar school, but only from the first of 
June to the first of October. Before this they had been 
admitted one afternoon per year at the general catechizing, 
to recite what they had learned at home or in dame 
schools.*® 

For some years after the adoption of the constitution the 
colonial laws on education were not changed. The report 
of the Boston school committee to the town meeting in 
1784 advised the selectmen to follow the law in regard to 
the approbation of private teachers and stated that much 
depended on the characters and moral conduct of instruc- 


63 Boston Town Records, in Reports of the Record C ommisstoners 
of Boston, XXXI, pp. 17-22. 

64 Bush, p. 395. 

oh Grea Pp. 308. 


Public Religious Education 81 


tors. They commended the “ wisdom, piety, and early 
care” of the fathers in providing for instruction.*® 

It was in 1789 that a codification of the education law 
was enacted that was in force until 1827. The following 
paragraph has been retained in all codifications to the pre- 
sent and is sometimes referred to as the moral instruction 
law: 

“The president, professors and tutors of the university 
at Cambridge and of the several colleges, all preceptors 
and teachers of academies and all other instructors of 
youth shall exert their best endeavors to impress: on the 
minds of children and youth committed to their care and 
instruction the principles of piety and justice and a sacred 
regard for truth, love of their country, humanity and 
universal benevolence, sobriety, industry and _ frugality, 
chastity, moderation and temperance, and those other 
virtues which are the ornament of human society and the 
basis upon which a republican constitution is founded; and 
they shall endeavor to lead their pupils, as their ages and 
capacities will admit, into a clear understanding of the 
tendency of the above mentioned virtues to preserve and 
perfect a republican constitution and secure the blessings 
of liberty as well as to promote their future happiness, and 
also to point out to them the evil tendency of the opposite 
wicess <7 

The phraseology of this law was symbolic of the tendency 
at this time, likewise manifested in the textbooks, to sub- 
stitute a system of ethics and morality for the strict 
Calvinistic religious instruction which persisted throughout 
the colonial period. The spirit of French philosophy and 
the deistic ideas of some of the leaders of the time doubt- 
less accounted for some of this. It was just after the 
period of constitution making when secular ideas of con- 
tract and natural rights were being put into practice in 
America. But the law in itself was one of those glittering 


66 Boston Town Records, in Reports of the Record Commissioners 
of Boston, XXXI, pp. 16-19. 67 Acts, 1789, chap. 19, sec. 4. 


82 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


generalities characteristic of this period of declarations and 
bills of rights crammed with wordy statements of political 
philosophy and written with little thought of their harmony 
with present conditions or possibility of enforcement. Thus 
it is not to be expected that the law changed immediately 
the customary practice in the scattered schoolhouses of the 
Bay State. There was no specific exclusion of religious 
education and in fact it has gone on under it ever since. 
It appears also to have been mandatory by the law, which 
included the word piety. This has usually been interpreted 
in a Christian community to mean the broad principles of 
the Christian religion. 

The law of 1789 further required compulsory schools and 
compulsory supervision, but not compulsory taxation or 
compulsory attendance. Hence the religious education 
could be escaped by not attending the public schools, but 
it must be remembered that all teachers, public and private, 
were required to teach piety. Doubtless this would not 
include the parent. The law did not authorize towns to 
tax for schools, but doubtless because of the earlier doctrine 
that towns possessed inherent corporate powers, which they 
were already exercising. If a school fund was sufficient, 
taxation was not necessary; if not, all might be taxed for 
the religious education of the schools. But this was of 
little significance when the same was true of public worship. 
It was required that every town of fifty families should 
have a schoolmaster of good morals to teach children to 
read and write and to instruct them in the English language, 
arithmetic, orthography, and decent behavior, for six 
months in the year. The grammar school requirement was 
weakened so that it was only required that towns of two 
hundred families should provide a grammar schoolmaster 
of good morals to teach Latin, Greek, and English. The 
ministerial influence on the schools was strong, although 
until 1811 the old prohibition of considering settled min- 
isters as schoolmasters was retained.** All grammar school- 

68 Acts, 1789, chap. 19, sec. 5; Laws, 1811, chap. 83. 


Public Religious Education 83 


masters had to have a certificate of proficiency in Latin and 
Greek from the learned minister of the town or two others 
near by and a certificate of moral character from a minister 
or the selectmen or committee. The ministers and select- 
men were required to use their influence so that the chil- 
dren would regularly attend, and to inspect the schools. 
A district could substitute a committee if it chose. Plan- 
tations, parishes, and precincts were authorized to tax. 
Private teachers had to have a certificate from the minis- 
ter that they were of sober life, and it was their duty to 
instill a sense of piety and virtue, and train in decent 
behavior.®® 

Slight financial changes were later made in the law, 
as when in 1800 school districts were authorized to 
tax for buildings and utensils,” and in 1817 they were 
made bodies corporate and authorized to take and hold 
real and personal property donated for the support of 
schools.*! 

If we look beneath these state laws to the practice of 
the towns, we find there was still considerable religious 
instruction. The system of schools for Boston in 1789 in- 
cluded one school for the rudiments of Latin and Greek 
and to fit for the University, three writing schools of both 
sexes for writing and arithmetic, and three reading schools 
for both sexes. Girls were admitted from April 20 to 
October 20, and attended alternately with the boys in 
the two types of elementary schools. A school committee 
of twelve was then provided for in addition to the select- 
men. The following record of the action of this committee 
is pertinent: 

“December 14, 1780. 

Voted, That it be the indispensable duty of the several 
schoolmasters, daily to commence the duties of their office 
by prayer and reading a portion of the sacred Scriptures, 

89 Acts, 1789, chap. 19, Sec. 1, 5, 51, especially. 
{9 Acts, 1799, chap: ,67. 
71 Laws, 1817, chap.. 14. 


84 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


at the hour assigned for opening the school in the morning ; 
and close the same in the evening with prayer.” ” 

Two weeks later the committee agreed to this vote: 

“That the several schoolmasters instruct the children 
under their care, or cause them to be instructed, in the As- 
semblie’s Catechism, every Saturday, unless the parents re- 
quest that they be taught any particular catechism of the 
religious society to which they belong; and the masters are 
directed to teach such children accordingly.” 7 

This required a sectarian religious instruction, but gave 
the parents an option as to the type. A further sign of the 
times is the suggestion of an anonymous writer in 1794 
that perhaps the public monies could not be appropriated 
to a more useful design than to establish Sunday Schools, 
particularly for poor children who worked weekdays or had 
no decent clothes for church. This was just ten years after 
Raikes had established the institution in Gloucester, Eng- 
Jand, and one had been established in Boston in 1791. Of 
course the original Sunday School taught the three R’s as 
well as religion, but this writer suggested that the school 
committee might appoint hours for the children to attend 
and that portions of Scripture should be read and explained. 
It appears that the ministers were then crowded off the 
Boston school committee by “gentlemen of science.” 7 
About 181z morning prayers were still the rule in the Boston 
Latin School.”4 

In 1826 a considerable proportion of the Boston pupils 
were in private schools, but it is unlikely that religion had 
any effect on this. There were then nine grammar schools, 
nine writing schools, the Latin School, the Boys English 
High School, the Girls English High School, and two 
Houses of Industry, with a total of 7,044 pupils, The 
registration in private schools was 3,392.7° 


72 The Byers of Public Education Adopted by the Town of Boston, 
15th Octob., 1789, bound in American Antiquarian Society Pamphlets, to. 

73 Collections of the Mass. Hist. Soc., ser. 1, II], pp. 266-267. 

74 Jenks, p. 46. 75 State of Boston Schools, May, 1826. 


Public Religious Education 85 


Ipswich in 1792 adopted an order for religious instruc- 
tion of a sectarian character which continued effective until 
the law passed in 1827 prohibiting it. It required constant 
use three or four times a week of the ‘ Catechism of the 
Assembly of Divines with Dr. Watts’s explanatory notes, 
and the Catechisms by the same author ” until they were 
committed to memory.”® 

A record in the books of the Roxbury Grammar School 
in 1803 reads as follows: 

‘Chose the Rev. Mr. E. Porter a committee to provide a 
catechism for the school, who was desired to request the 
assistance of Master Prentiss.” *” 

The Dorchester rules of 1810 recommended rather than 
required that instructors daily lead in devotional exercises, 
and stated that suitable attention to morals and instruc- 
tion in the principles of religion was expected. They were 
to repeat hymns and other lessons tending to promote re- 
ligion and virtue, at the discretion of the master. Children 
who brought a catechism with a written request of their 
parents were to spend part of Saturdays reciting it.** This 
shows considerable weakening of the compulsory religious 
instruction previously customary. But even after this it 
was the custom of the teachers to march their charges on 
the last Friday of each month to the First Church of Dor- 
chester to hear the preparatory communion lecture of the 
Unitarian Dr. Thaddeus Harris.7° After 1825 the custom 
persisted of excusing the children if parents requested or 
of dismissing school if the teacher wished to attend the 
above lecture. Previous to 1827 the event of the minister 
coming to school to catechize was taken by the teacher to 
mean a holiday for him.*° 

Further light on the conditions in our period may be 
gained from Warren Burton’s school career. He entered 
school at the age of three and a half and left at ten. He 


76 Felt, History of Ipswich, Essex, and Hamilton, p. 89. 
77 Dillaway, p. 76. 79 Holtz, p. 38. 
(= Orcutt; Dp. 333: 80 Orcutt, p. 344. 


86 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


tells us that when his dear Mary Smith closed the summer 
session “she gave us much parting advice about loving and 
obeying God, and loving and doing good to every body.” 
On the last day of the winter term the minister attended 
and examined the children and dismissed them with prayer. 
There is no reference to study or examination in the 
catechism.*®* 

Until the end of the first quarter of the century the 
religious element was therefore prominent in the schools 
but was gradually becoming weaker and less sectarian. But 
the catechetical instruction had not entirely disappeared 
from the elementary schools. A study of the textbooks in 
use makes this clearer. 

The Bible had not yet disappeared as a reading book. 
After 1789 there was still the system of promotion through 
Primer, Psalter, and Testament.2? About 1790 “ each one 
read one verse from the Bible or a sentence from Webster’s 
Spelling Book,’ says General Henry K. Oliver regarding 
his early education in Boston.®* The list of books adopted 
by the school committee in 1789 was as follows: The Holy 
Bible ; Webster’s Spelling Book, or the first part of his 
Institute; The Young Lady’s Accidence ; Webster’s Ameri- 
can Selection of Lessons in Reading and Speaking, or the 
third part of his Grammatical Institute ; The Children’s 
Friend, if expedient. It was also suggested that newspapers 
be introduced occasionally.®* 

At the beginning of the nineteenth century the Bible 
remained at the head of the list and there was much memo- 
rizing of Bible verses. As a New England farmer said: 
“ The Bible and figgers is all I want my boys to know.” * 

“i Warren Burton, The District School as it Was (Boston, 1852), esp. 
Pp. 37, 80, 141-147. 

82 Johnson, p. 101. 

®3 Holtz, pp. 49-50. 

84 The sien of Public Education Adopted by the Town of Boston, 
15th Octob., 1789. 

ES Gia "Martin. Boston Schools too Years Ago, in New Enelond 
Magazine, XXVI, 1902, pp. 628-642. 


Public Religious Education 87 


The Visitation Committee of Boscawen and Webster re- 
ported in 1809 that the catechism and Bible were used in 
most of the schools, but not universally.s® According to 
Warren Burton he first took with him to school Perry’s 
Only Sure Guide. Other books in use in the schools were 
the Young Lady’s Accidence, Murray’s Abridgement, Scott’s 
Lessons, Adam’s Understanding Reader, The American Pre- 
ceptor, The Columbian Orator, The Art of Reading, Scott’s 
Elocution, and Webster’s Third Part. With reference to 
the use of the Bible he says: 

“The Bible, particularly the New Testament, was the 
reading twice a day, generally, for all the classes adequate 
to words of more than one syllable. It was the only read- 
ing of several of the younger classes under some teachers. 
On this practice I shall but make a single remark. As far. 
as my own experience and observation extended, reverence 
for the sacred volume was not deepened by this constant 
but exceedingly careless use.’ *7 

The school committee report of Leicester in 1849 speaks 
of the good old days of Dilworth’s Spelling Book, the 
Only Sure Guide, the Understanding Reader, and Scott’s 
Lessons .** 

In the period under consideration, therefore, it is clear 
that the Calvinistic New England Primer played little part 
and that the use of catechisms was also fast disappearing. 
The Bible was less slowly being replaced as a regular 
reader, and even then was read as a daily devotion or other- 
wise. But it should be remembered that the older customs 
doubtless persisted longer in the out-of-the-way, sparsely 
settled districts. During the period there was a rapid pro- 
duction of the new readers and spellers, but the force of 
inertia naturally kept the older ones in many of the schools. 
We shall now examine some of these books which we have 


86 Holtz, p. §4. 

87 Burton, pp. 26-29, 47, 50, 63, 76. 

88 Report of the School Committee of the Town of Leicester, 1849- 
1850, p. 22. 


88 Religious Education in. Massachusetts 


found in use in the schools and others published in Massa- 
chusetts which must have found their way into some of 
the schools. 

The Young Lady's Accidence *® by Caleb Brigham was 
one of the early books of the period. It had gone through 
twenty editions by 1815. It was an English grammar 
with no religion, except that the later editions have a few 
Bible selections interspersed for parsing. 

The New American Spelling Book® was edited and 
printed at Worcester by Isaiah Thomas in 1785. Apple 
here replaces Adam in his imitation of the Primer picture 
alphabet. The book consists mainly of words to spell, but 
all sentences are of a religious or moral character. There 
are also moral tales and fables, the Westminster Shorter 
Catechism, the Lord’s Prayer, and a creed and hymn. 

It was at this period too that the popularity of Dilworth’s 
speller was eclipsed by Noah Webster’s American Spelling 
Book.®: The Webster books were also known as the Gram- 
matical Institute of the English Language,®? in three parts 
first appearing in 1782, 1783, and 1784 respectively. The 
preface states that most of the schools have previously used 
the Bible, but that the style is not adapted to the present 
and it prostitutes divine truth to use it thus and the student 
gets disgusted with the Bible. It is suggested that it would 
be better to read and explain it religiously two or three 
times a week than to have the boys make sport of it. The 
selections which he gives for reading are for morals as 
much as for knowledge and incidentally there is some re- 
ligious content imparted, but not much. It is claimed that 
about two thirds of the people of the United States studied 
his Spelling Book about 1800. The edition of 1789 con- 
sists mainly of single words to spell, but has about six pages 

89 Caleb Bingham, The Young Lady’s Accidence (Boston, 1785). 

90 The New American Spelling Book, Isaiah Thomas, ed. (Worcester, 
1785). 

Bee Webster, The American Spelling Book (Boston, 1789). 


92 Noah Webster, Part II of Grammatical Institute (Hartford, 1784) ; 
Noah Webster, Part III of Grammatical Institute (Hartford, 1785). 


Public Religious Education 89 


of Bible quotation. There is a selection beginning ‘“ My 
son, hear the counsel of thy father, and forsake not the law 
of thy mother”; but the source of this is not mentioned. 
It includes “ Our Savior’s golden Rule” and The History 
of the Creation of the World, based on Genesis, but in- 
cluding the idea of the omniscience of God. A further Web- 
ster book was The Little Reader’s Assistant,®* which con- 
tained no religion, but historical stories, English grammar 
simplified from Part II of the Grammatical Institute, and 
the principles of government, commerce and agriculture. 

A famous book which appeared in 1794 and is said to 
have been printed to the extent of 640,000 copies by 1832 
was Caleb Bingham’s American Preceptor.°* Omitting ro- 
mantic fiction and tales of love, it explains that “ moral 
essays have not been neglected ; yet pleasing and interesting 
stories, exemplifying moral virtues, were judged best cal- 
culated to engage the attention and improve the heart.” 
This marks a wide departure from the spirit of the New 
England Primer and the Puritan philosophy, and ushers 
in the long period when people feared indelicacies much 
more than the Puritans and every story had to point a 
moral. There are two pages entitled Sublimity of the 
Scriptures and giving quotations from Habakkuk and Reve- 
lation. Paul’s speech before King Agrippa appears be- 
side speeches of Demosthenes, Marius, Brutus, Pitt, and 
Cicero. 

A still more popular book of the same period was Perry, 
The Only Sure Guide to the English Tongue, of which 
Isaiah Thomas states in the 1804 edition that 300,000 copies 
had already been sold. The 1786 edition starts with 
pronunciation and lists of words to spell, followed by easy 
lessons for reading which are at the beginning all distinctly 
religious. There are fifteen pages of moral tales and fables 


93 Noah Webster, The Little Reader’s Assistant (Hartford, 1791). 

94 Caleb Bingham, The American Preceptor (Boston, 1797, 4th ed.). 

95 W. Perry, The Only Sure Guide to the English Tongue (2d: 
Worcester ed., 1786; roth imp. ed., 1804; new imp. ed., Boston, 1823). 


go Religious Education in Massachusetts 


which are naturally not religious. Religious poems were 
added in 1804. In an addition of 1823 there were more read- 
ing lessons, largely religious in character. In one of these 
a son asks for a story of a bloody murder. His father tells 
how 20,000 men killed 10,000. The child cannot understand, 
but finally says: 

‘“O, now I have found you out! You mean a battle.” 

“Indeed I do. I do not know of any murders half so 
bloody.” 

An English book intended for the use of Sunday Schools 
which was less used in Massachusetts was The Childs First 
Book.®* The alphabet is taught by having large type letters 
on a page with the sounds given on the opposite page. 
There are many pages of letter combinations and various 
kinds of type for drill. All the reading is then of a re- 
ligious character, and the book concludes with prayers, a 
creed, and similar matter. Editions were published in 
Boston in 1810 and 1816. 

The opening of the new century was marked by a rapid 
production of new reading books. One of the earliest was 
by Daniel Stamford, entitled The Art of Reading, calculated 
to improve the Scholar in Reading and Speaking with 
Propriety and Elegance and to impress the Minds of Youth 
with Sentiments of Virtue and Religion.” The book had 
twenty of two hundred thirty-two pages devoted to com- 
ment on the Scriptures and interpretation of them. It 
contained famous addresses, descriptions, and some moral 
treatises. 

A book of the same period was Temple, The Child’s As- 
sistant,°® to be used between a speller and The American 
Preceptor. It claims that the selections are intended “ to 
prompt the mind to a love of virtue, and universal benevo- 
lence.” It consists of short numbered paragraphs without 


96 J. F. Schoolmaster, The Childs First Book (Newcastle, Eng., 1794). 

97 Daniel Stamford, The Art of Reading (Boston, 1800; 12th ed., 
1817). 

98 Samuel Temple, The Child’s Assistant (6th ed., Boston). 


Public Religious Education QI 


illustrations, Bible quotations, religious sentiments, the life 
of Washington, and moral maxims. 

A book which went through innumerable editions was 
Lindley Murray’s English Reader.®® It contained no direct 
biblical or catechetical material, but many articles on re- 
ligion, or adaptations from the Bible. The tone was re- 
ligious and the aim was stated as “ to inculcate some of the 
most important principles of piety and virtue.” 

An important Massachusetts reader was The Understand- 
ing Reader,°° which was an exception in that the preface 
contained nothing in relation to religion. But the tone was 
moral and religious and it contained quotations from the 
Bible relating to the defense of Esther and the defense 
of Paul, and the resurrection of Christ. There were also 
selections from Franklin, Goldsmith, and others, and a 
sermon. A little scientific material appears in the form 
of descriptions of natural history. 

The Columbian Spelling Book, and Children’s Friend *°" 
claims to have reading lessons so selected “ that while they 
insensibly conduct the learner to a knowledge of letters, 
they will be found to contain such morals, as will lead him 
to a love of virtue.” It has a very little religion, as “ Pray 
to God” and “ Do to others as you wish they should do 
to you.” It consists almost entirely of easy dialogues on 
minerals, geography, and some moral ideas. 

Strong’s Common Reader,'°? copyrighted in 1818, was of 
a more religious spirit and was recommended by Rev. 
William Allen, formerly president of Dartmouth, and the 
chancellor of Brown and the bishop of the Eastern Diocese, 
for its moral and religious principles. The author advises 
morning and evening prayer in the schools and gives forms 
of prayers for each. There are Bible quotations, religious 
topics, and some lighter reading. 

99 Lindley Murray, The English Reader (3d Phila. ed., 1801). 

100 Daniel Adams, The Understanding Reader (Leominster, 1803). 

101 The Columbian Spelling Book, and Children’s Friend (Providence, 


1819). 
102 T. Strong, The Common Reader (2d ed., Greenfield, 1819). 


Q2 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


A good example of the religious spirit which still per- 
vaded the school books is found in Butler's Sketches of 
Universal History Sacred and Profane, from the creation of 
the world, to the year 1818.1°° The author states that his 
purpose was to show that one supreme, omnipotent, eternal 
God created the universe, and that his wisdom regulates 
and controls all events. It is based largely on Old Testa- 
ment prophecy, and shows how the Jews were happy under 
theocracy and how licentious ambition has ruined other 
powers. The first object through the whole work was to 
show the influence and importance of religion. 

Noah Worcester’s Friend of Youth** states that its 
purpose is to imbue the young with sentiments of piety, 
humanity, and universal benevolence, and with just con- 
ceptions of God. There are two numbers from the dis- 
courses of the Savior and a religious tone in most of it, 
with some descriptions of natural things. 

The Female Speaker’ was a recognition of the partic- 
ular interests of girls and protested against teaching them 
several foreign languages. It had more of a moral than 
religious tone throughout, but had a number of biblical 
quotations and some didactic material on religion. 

An unique attempt at the production of a textbook was 
The Franklin Primer *°® composed and published in 1826 
by a committee of the School Convention of Franklin 
County. It uses pictures to teach the alphabet, as “ B is 
for Bell,’ and contains no religious material except two 
compositions showing conversations between a mother and 
her daughter on retiring and arising and giving the prayers 
that Lucy uses. This was in marked contrast to the old 
New England Primer with its catechism and Calvinism. 

That the elimination of the religious spirit from the 
textbooks of the day was not meeting universal approbation 


103 F, Butler, Sketches of Universal History (Hartford, 1818). 
104 Noah Worcester, The Friend of Youth (2d ed., Boston, 1823). 
105 Anna L. Barbauld, The Female Speaker (Boston, 1824). 

106 The Franklin Primer (21st ed., Greenfield, 1836). 


Public Religious Education 93 


is evident from a letter to the editor of the Boston Recorder 
by a clergyman, in recommendation of some new school 
book, because it could serve as Sabbath reading to the most 
advanced Christian to his edification, and the popular school 
books were not worthy of being the sole companions of 
the Bible in the family library, as was so often the case.” 
At any rate the catechism, creed, hymns and most of the 
Biblical material had now been replaced by moral and 
scientific material in the newest books. But of course the 
older books persisted in use and the catechism was probably 
still studied in some remote schools where the people were 
still of one creed. 

In the secondary field the Latin schools were decadent 
in the first quarter of the century and the high schools had 
hardly started. The Latin schools appeared to have been 
gradually dropping the religious content and the religious 
exercises. In 1789 the books adopted by the school com- 
mittee for the Latin Grammar Schools of Boston were re- 
ligious in character and showed little change from the 
earlier period. The list included Cheever’s Accidence, The 
Colloquies of Corderius, Selectae e Veteri Testamento 
Historiae, Castalio’s Dialogues, and the Greek Testament .'°° 
By the end of the first quarter of the century, the Greek 
Testament studied in the last two years was the only re- 
ligious book left, and Saturday was the only day in which 
all the school joined in any religious or literary exercise. 

It was at about this time that a new interest in education 
was taken under the leadership of James G. Carter and 
that a complete re-enactment of laws on education occurred. 
Carter advocated a democratic system of education with 
practice training schools for teachers for the elementary 
schools, in opposition to the more aristocratic academies, 


107 Boston Recorder, Jan. 26, 1822, p. 15. 

108 The System of Public Education Adopted by the Town of Boston, 
15th Octob., 1789. 

109 The Prize Book of the Publick Latin School in Boston, 1823, 
No. 1V (Boston, 1823); Jenks, pp. 63-64. 


94 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


which served a relative few.1*° There were in 1826 117,- 
186 pupils attending the public schools and the estimated 
number in private schools was 25,083.11! Carter also led 
the agitation for a state board and for a better system of 
licensing teachers. While once the ministers were the only 
learned profession and it was proper to leave the licensing 
to them, conditions had now changed so that when there 
were many ministers in a town it was not clear which 
should do it. He believed the qualifications of teachers 
should now be settled by others, but the religious reason of 
securing orthodoxy does not seem to have then been at all 
at issue. Carter was not opposed to a religious influence 
in the schools, for he says with reference to the selection 
of teachers: 

“It becomes then of momentous concern to the com- 
monwealth, in a moral and religious as well as in a political 
point of view, that this influence should be the greatest and 
best possible.” 1"° 

That his ideal of education was religious further appears 
from his Letters to the Hon. William Prescott on the Free 
Schools of New England, with Remarks on the Principles 
of Instruction, which ‘appear to contain some traces of 
deistic philosophy : 

“Science, philosophy, and religion will then be blended 
with their very natures, to grow with their growth and 
strengthen with their strength. The whole earth will then 
constitute but one beautiful temple, in which may dwell in 
peace all mankind; and their lives form but one consistent 
and perpetual worship.” 17° 

From the standpoint of religious education the most im- 
portant feature of the educational law of 1827 was that re- 
lating to the power of school committees over school books 
and the prohibition of the introduction of books of a sectarian 


110 Barnard, American Journal of Education, V, pp. 412-416. 
111. H. R. Doc. 34, 1827. 

112 Qld South Leaflets, V1, pp. 217-219. 

113 Barnard, American Journal of Education, V, p. 412. 


Public Religious Education 95 


character. We have seen that up to this time catechetical 
study had been common in the schools. The Unitarian 
group had only been definitely in existence for a short time 
and the doctrines of the Orthodox Congregationalists and 
the Baptists, Episcopalians, and Methodists were suffi- 
ciently similar so that there was little friction over the teach- 
ing of the common doctrines of the gospel. E. A. Newton 
asserts that the Assembly’s Catechism was recited every 
Saturday afternoon in most of the schools of the state.'™ 
But he was an ardent Episcopalian of Pittsfield where the 
old traditions were stronger than in the East, and doubt- 
less his desires colored his interpretation of facts. Horace 
Mann claimed it had been discontinued in many places 
at the beginning of the century, and that before 1837 it 
had been mainly discontinued in the nine eastern counties, 
having been objected to by the Baptists.1? 

Before the passage of this law there had been no pro- 
vision of law as to who should determine what books should 
be used in schools and the whims of teachers resulted in 
what was considered too great a variety.‘'® Hence it was 
provided in the law that the school committee of each 
town should direct and determine the class books to he 
used. To this was added, as a precaution against undue 
sectarian influence, the following clause: 

“Provided, also, that said committee shall never direct 
any school books to be purchased or used, in any of the 
schools under their superintendence, which are calculated 
to favour any particular religious sect or tenet.” 1*” 

It does not appear that in effect this law produced or 
was intended to produce any radical change. Samuel W. 
Burnside of Worcester was a member of the legislature, and 
at the request of the Committee on Education drew the bill 
in almost substantially its permanent form and sponsored 

114 The Christian Witness and Church Advocate, May 17, 1844, 
» §I. 

, a The Christian Register, June 22, 1844, p. 95. 
116 The Christian Register, June 15, 1844, p. 91. Letter by Foster. 
117 Laws, 1826, chap. 143, sec. 7. 


96 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


it in the House and watched it through the Senate. The 
bill was unanimously approved by the Committee without 
regard to denomination and a majority were probably 
orthodox. It was passed almost unanimously in the House. 
The general understanding was at the time that dogmatic 
theology had ceased to be taught in the schools, and that 
it ought to be excluded; that all could agree on points 
which were not sectarian, and as the children grew older 
they could themselves settle matters of doctrinal dispute 
to their own satisfaction. It did not refer merely to mat- 
ters of church government and discipline, but intended to 
exclude doctrinal subjects and merely legalized the existing 
SVSLEM an: 

In 1844 in the midst of the school controversies of 
Horace Mann, E. A. Newton, an Episcopalian of Pittsfield 
who had previously been on the Board of Education, made 
the point that the law was due to the influence of the small 
but powerful Unitarian group, which had in the early part 
of the nineteenth century become a distinct denomination. 
Continuing Newton claimed: 

“No one thought much of this enactment, until the 
establishment of the Board of Education, ten years after- 
ward. It was not construed to mean the exclusion of 
religious teaching, in the great doctrines of the gospel; 
this had given no offence for two hundred years to the 
religious denominations making together the great body of 
the people; it was interpreted to mean, if to be operative, 
the exclusion of ecclesiastical systems of church government 
and discipline, but as these had never been obtruded so 
as to disturb the public repose, no danger was apprehended 
from them, and religious teaching, as here understood, con- 
tinued to be practiced in our schools.” 11° 

118 Samuel M. Burnside to Horace Mann, June 4, 1844. Copied in 
The Common School Controversy (Boston, 1844) from the Worcester 
Aegis pp. 48-50. Hon. Emory Washburn, who was also in the leg- 
islature when the law was passed, and orthodox, agreed to the statement 
of the origin and meaning of the law. 

119 The Christian Witness and Church Advocate, May 17, 1844, p. 51. 


Public Religious Education 97 


The publication of this interpretation of the law and 
the circumstances of its passage and its effect led to a strong 
chorus of disapproval. Doubtless Unitarians favored the 
bill, as we know that Horace Mann was then in the legis- 
lature and worked for it. He was a Unitarian. But since 
the bill was almost unanimously passed it must have had 
the support of the orthodox also. It might as well have 
been proposed by a Baptist, Quaker, Episcopalian, or 
orthodox Congregationalist, as ‘‘ Civis” suggested in the 
New England Puritan, adding that Episcopalians would ob- 
ject to Punchard on Congregationalism or A Church without 
a Bishop.*® In Burnside’s letter previously referred to 
Newton’s interpretation was refuted and, in regard to the 
practice since, the writer believed that the situation in 
Worcester was like that throughout the state. There all 
the clergy except the Methodist had been on the school 
committee and had harmoniously required teachers to give 
religious instruction but had enjoined them to abstain from 
doctrines. About 1834 a committee of all the clergy re- 
ported on religious instruction in the public schools, making 
no hint of any doctrinal instruction, but recommending the 
ereat truths of revelation and Christian morality, about 
which there was no controversy.'*. Horace Mann considered 
Newton’s interpretation of the law of 1827 original and 
incorrect.??” 

The probability is that the law was regarded more as a 
safeguard against unwise forcing of the views of a partic- 
ular denomination by some school committee which might 
chance to be of one denomination than as an attempt to 
alter current practice. If the new power had not been 
given to determine the books, the question of books on 
religion would not have been thought of. It should be 
noted that the law actually prohibited only the use of 
books; oral instruction by the teacher in particular de- 


120 The Common School Controversy, pp. 50-52. 
121 The Common School Controversy, pp. 48-50. 
122 The Christian Register, June 22, 1844, p. 95. 


98 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


nominational tenets would not violate it, though doubtless 
it would violate the spirit of it. Despite later controversy 
as to its meaning, there has never been a judicial determina- 
tion of it. It certainly would prohibit the use of catechisms 
and similar compendiums, but books like Evidences of 
Christianity were used freely under it. Confucianists, Bud- 
dhists, and Mohammedans were not present in Massachu- 
setts to insist that the Bible was as sectarian as The Four 
Books, The Veda, or The Koran. Jews had not increased 
since the Revolution and the Catholic population was as 
yet insignificant. Hence sectarianism then meant the minor 
differences which determine the Protestant sects, and not 
the larger body of Christian principles which they held in 
common. There was not the slightest intention of exclud- 
ing religious instruction in these broad principles, and 
doubtless more of it then went on under the law than before. 
Besides, the clause carried no penalty and there was no 
state officer particularly charged with the administration 
of it. The conscience of the committeeman was the re 
policeman. 

Financial provisions were also made by the law of es 
and subsequent laws which involved all taxpayers in the 
support of religious education and committed the state 
itself to the partial support of the common schools. By 
the law the several towns under penalty of twice the highest 
sum ever voted were ‘“ authorized, empowered, and di- 
rected ” to tax for schools.1** For the first time taxation 
of all was mandatory. The Massachusetts School Fund 
was established in 1834. It was limited to $1,000,000 and 
was to be derived from the sale of land in Maine and from 
the claims of Massachusetts on the United States for mili- 
tary purposes. The income was to be appropriated only 
to common schools, and no school unit was to receive more 
than as much as they raised by taxation.12* From this 
fund special appropriations for the schools of the Mashpee, 


123 Laws, 1826, chap. 143, sec. 4, 19. 
124 Laws, 1834, chap. 169. 


Public Religious Education 99 


Chappequiddick and Christiantown, Gay Head, and Her- 
ring Pond Indians,'*> continued to be made until the Fed- 
eral statute of 1870, after which these Indians changed 
from the tribal state to citizenship and the appropriations 
were made directly to the towns.'*° During this period 
there were also frequent acts of incorporation of trustees 
of the ministerial and school funds which accrued from the 
sale of the lands reserved for the ministers and schools in 
the incorporation of the towns. It was specified that the 
trustees could never alter the purpose. The special act for 
Sweden in 1820 is a case in point.'** The case of Lanes- 
borough v. Curtis in 1839 concerned a similar sale of the 
ministerial land in Lanesborough and the court upheld a 
legislative resolve that the Baptists as well as the Con- 
gregationalists and Episcopalians should share in the in- 
come of the fund.'** 

A less important provision of the law of 1827 was that 
the school committee in the towns should be selected at 
town meeting, and that they should require evidence of the 
good moral character of teachers.'*®° The old provision 
that the ministers should have a part in the licensing of 
schoolmasters was therefore repealed in line with the ideas 
of James G. Carter. It appears to have been dictated solely 
from the standpoint of school efficiency and without refer- 
ence to possible religious implications. Ministers continued 
to serve on school committees very uniformly. 

The period under consideration was the one during which 
the modern high school passed through its formative de- 
velopment. The Latin Grammar Schools had declined in 
importance with the growth of academies and because their 
narrow language curriculum did not appeal to the commer- 
cial classes. The democratic wave of the early twentieth 
century demanded a type of school supported by public 


125 R. §., chap, 23, sec. 68; Laws, 1837, chap. 85; Laws, 1838, chap. 
154; Acts, 1839, chap. 56, sec. 3, 4, 5. 

126 Acts, 1870, chap. 350. 128 22 Pick., 320-332. 

127 Laws, 1819, chap. 273. 129 Laws, 1826, chap. 143, sec. 5. 


100 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


taxation which would appeal more largely to a larger pro- 
portion of the citizenry. The state laws on compulsory 
higher schools also made it necessary for the towns to 
make better provision than they had been doing. 

Though the towns had been very negligent, Dedham 
in 1819 was presented by the grand jury for being a town 
of two hundred families without a grammar schoolmaster 
as required by the law of 1789. A divinity graduate of 
Harvard and college students at Harvard and Brown had 
been employed without certificate, but there had been no 
separate grammar schools in the town. It was held in the 
case that a certificate from ministers must be produced and 
that all the schools of the town must be grammar schools, 
with regulations for admission of pupils.*° A few years 
later the law was greatly weakened by requiring only an 
elementary school, unless the town had a population of 
over five thousand.**! In the law of 1827 a schoolmaster 
for United States history, geography, geometry, algebra, 
and such subjects was required if there were over five 
hundred families; while places of over four thousand 
population were required to teach Latin, Greek, history, 
rhetoric, and logic.*** 

It was under the requirements of this statute that the 
high schools were established. Boston took the lead in 
1821. On October 26, 1820, the school committee voted 
that it was expedient to establish an English Classical 
School, for boys exclusively, to prepare more particularly 
for mercantile and mechanical professions. The curriculum 
for the highest class was to include moral and political 
philosophy, and it was believed that its establishment 
“would give strength and stability to the civil and religious 
institutions of our country.” *%* As the girls were here 


130 Commonwealth v. Inhabitants of Dedham, 1810. 

SSIS GIs T6231 CAD, PL ur. 

132 Taws, 1826, chap. 143, sec. I. 

133 Proceedings of the School Committee of the Town of Boston, ° 
respecting an English Classical School, 1820. 


Public Religious Education IOI 


excluded, it fell to the lot of Worcester in 1824 to estab- 
lish the first known public high school for girls.1** Boston 
gave the first examination for admission to such a school 
on February 22, 1826, but the school was soon discontinued. 
They were to be instructed in everything taught in the 
public grammar and writing schools. About 1836 a com- 
mittee reported that the girls should study moral philosophy 
in the grammar schools and remain longer in them as a 
substitute for the building of a high school.1* 

The extent of high school development prior to 1838 is 
indicated by the following list: 1*° 


Boston, 1821 Northampton, 1835 
Worcester, 1824 Waltham, 1835 

Plymouth, 1827 Ipswich, 1836 

Salem, 1827 Scituate, 1836 

New Bedford, 1827 Marblehead, 1836 or 1837 
Springfield, 1828 Ashburnham, 1837? 
Randolph, 1829 Foxborough, 1837? 
Lowell, 1831 Lanesborough, 1837 
Newburyport, 1831 Leominster, 1837 
Medford, 1835 Newton, 1837 


The curricula established in these high schools was simi- 
lar in its religious content. In the Boston English Classical 
School in 1823 the curriculum included branches of moral 
philosophy and Evidences of Christianity and Paley’s 
Natural Theology.** In Worcester the girls were using 
the English Reader, the Bible, and the Young Lady’s Class 
Book.** When an advertisement was run in the Columbian 
Centinal for a master for the high school for girls in Boston 


134 A, J. Jones, Early Schools of Worcester, Mass., in Ed. Adm. and 
Superv., IV, Oct. 1918, pp. 417 ff. 

135 Report to the Common Council on the Subject of a High School 
for Girls. (undated). 

186 Grizzell, p. 94. 

137 Prize Book of the Publick Latin School in Boston, IV, pp. 18-20. 

138 Jones, p. 417 ff. 


102 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


it specified that the master would be expected to teach moral 
philosophy and Evidences of Christianity.°® The course 
as adopted showed in the second year Paley’s Natural 
Theology, and in the third year Paley’s Moral Philosophy 
and Paley’s Evidences of Christianity.*° The purpose of 
the Lowell High School in 1832 was expressed as to prepare 
for college and fit others in the branches of a good English 
education. All were required to take the prescribed course, 
except that a sub-committee was authorized to excuse from 
authors or parts of authors if the student could not do it 
all in the required time. In the Classical Department 
the Gospels were read in Greek. In the English Depart- 
ment the subjects included Natural Theology, Moral Phi- 
losophy, Natural Philosophy, and Evidences of Chris- 
tianity.‘* Newburyport in the same year had exactly the 
same subjects of this type, except that natural philosophy 
was omitted.1*? The English Classical School of Boston in 
1833 included Paley’s Natural Theology, with Paxton’s 
Illustrations ; Paley’s Moral Philosophy; and Paley’s Evi- 
dences of Christianity. In the Latin Grammar School at 
this time the Greek Testament was read and Paley with 
Paxton was optional with the master, as it was not required 
for entrance at Cambridge.'** In the English High School 
at Salem in 1830 the senior class studied Paley’s Moral 
Philosophy 3*4 

An examination of the books which have been mentioned 
will show that the English courses included considerable 
religious content which had never appeared in the Latin 


139 Grizzell, pp. 45, 46. 

140 [bid., p. 302. 

141 Regulations for the Public Schools of the Town of Lowell, 1832, 
pp. 13-16. 

142 Catalogue of the Instructors and Scholars in the Latin and 
English High School, Newburyport, 1832, pp. 10-12. 

143 Report of Committee on Regulations of the School Committee 
of Boston, 1833, pp. 16, 18, 10. 

144 Regulations for the Public Schools of the Town of Salem, 1830, 
D.)i7 


Public Religious Education 103 


Grammar Schools, doubtless because it was necessary to 
fill fhe curriculum and those reading Latin and Greek had 
been expected to absorb their religion from the authors 
read in the original. The character of Evidences of Chris- 
tianity is apparent. Natural philosophy was the old name 
for physics. The Natural Theology: or Evidences of the 
Existence and Attributes of the Deity, collected from the 
Appearances of Nature,'** by William Paley, D.D., Arch- 
deacon of Carlisle, was largely devoted to the study of 
nature and the structure of man, from the analogy of which 
he developed his theory of the personality, natural attri- 
butes, unity and goodness of the Deity. The approach was 
somewhat deistic, but the conclusions were not so. The 
Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy**® by the 
same Anglican author discussed the will of God, duties to- 
ward God, virtues and vices. It was largely based on the 
Scriptures and had a distinctly religious tone. 

After the passage of the law of 1827 it was of course 
impossible to use legally sectarian books and an examina- 
tion of the books in use in elementary schools shows a 
considerable lessening of the amount of religious education 
through textbooks. In Boston in 1831 Pierpont’s National 
Reader and the A'merican First Class Book were used.'*‘ 
Two years later it was required that the morning exercises 
of all schools should commence with reading the Scriptures 
and prayer. In the grammar schools Pierpont’s books were 
required, but we find a lingering use of the Bible as a 
reader, for on Mondays the highest class read in it instead 
of a reader.‘** In the grammar schools for boys and in 
those for girls in Salem in 1830 the ability to read the 
Testament was required for admission and the use of the 
Bible, Pierpont’s National Reader, and the American First 

145 William Paley, Natural Theology (Albany, 1803). 

146 William Paley, The Principles of Moral and Political Fhilosophy 
(Boston, 1821). 

147 Report of Committee on Classification of Schools, 1831, pp. 7-8. 


148 Report of Committee on Regulations of the School Committee 
of Boston, 1833, pp. 8, 13. 


104 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


Class Book were required with no possible substitution. 
Similarly the primary schools used the New Testament and 
the New York Reader.‘* 

At approximately the close of our period, in 1835, the 
reports of the school committees disclosed the use of the 
readers or religious books in the following order of popu- 
larity cure 


Bible or Testament 114 towns 
National Reader Most 
Young’s Reader Very popular 
Pierpont’s Reading Books , of 
Improved Reader Considerable 
Intelligent Reader ; 
Child’s Guide . 
Analytical Reader § 
Murray’s English Reader ‘f 
Franklin Primer Scattering 
About twenty-five other books used in various places. 
Beauties of the Bible Charlestown 
Brown’s Moral Philosophy Brookfield 
Whelpley’s Compendium 7 towns 
Wayland’s Moral Philosophy Edgartown 
Sullivan’s Moral Class Book Salem 
Evidences of Christianity Newburyport 
Catechism None 

Paley’s Moral and Polit. Philos. Marblehead 


The most popular National Reader?! was intended to 
meet the requirement of the Massachusetts sectarian book 
law just passed, but included lessons of a “sublime and 
catholic religion.” It was also designed to be an American 
book of a nationalistic but not exclusive spirit. The author — 


149 Regulations for the Public Schools of the Town of Salem, 1830, 
pp. 18-20. 

150 Abstract of School Returns, 1835. 

151 John Pierpont, The National Reader (Boston, 1828). 


Public Religious Education 105 


was a minister of the Hollis Street church in Boston and the 
book has a religious spirit. It went through a dozen editions 
by 1841. 

The series of books by Joshua Leavitt originated slightly 
earlier, of which the Easy Lessons *°? was most used in 
this period. It was intended to take the place of the 
Testament, but the author would not exclude it entirely. 
There is one sermon by a lady, and one hymn, both of 
which are adapted to children. There is little religious 
content, but a description of the American Asylum for the 
Deaf and Dumb has a religious point of view. The frontis- 
piece shows a group gathered under a tree in a hayfield 
with a church in the distance. There is the following 
description of the scene: 

“The haymakers soon gathered around the milk pail, 
thanking Mr. Dolben for his kindness. Mr. Dolben re- 
quested them to give God thanks and ask his blessing, and 
then they began to eat; while Henry read to them, in a 
distinct, graceful, and animated manner, the eleventh chap- 
ter of Isaiah.” 

The Fourth Class Book} contained 135 selections, of 
which the only religious ones were entitled Praise to God, 
Creation, and The Works of God, developing the idea of 
God in nature. The content was mainly stories, with 
some religious and moral ideas. 

The General Class Book}*** was by the author of the 
Franklin Primer and the Improved Reader and followed 
them in a series. It included a medley of topics, scientific, 
historical, and some distinctly religious. Abraham was 
treated along with Pericles and public worship and the pope 
along with breweries and tornadoes. The book was ad- 
vertised for sale in Boston, Northampton, and Pittsfield 
and the twelfth edition was published in 1835. 

A book used considerably in 1835 was The Child’s 


152 Joshua Leavitt, Easy Lessons in Reading (7th ed., Keene, 1827). 
153 The Fourth Class Book, anon., (2d ed., Brookfield, 1828). 
154 The General Class Book (Greenfield, undated). 


106 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


Guide,'*> of which the Boston Recorder said that it was 
calculated ‘to warm the pupil into benevolent and pious 
sentiments.” There are many selections from The Youth's 
Companion, and other books. The only frankly religious 
part is the Ten Commandments followed by a talk on them. 

A Second Book for Reading and Spelling *°® was copy- 
righted by Samuel Worcester in 1830. It was to be used 
next after the primer and many of the lessons were on 
natural subjects with a picture of the animal or thing at 
the top. There was considerable religious material in the 
form of Bible quotations and stories based on the Ten 
Commandments. Unlike the majority of the new books 
at that date, it was more religious than moral. 

On the other hand a distinctly moral as opposed to reli- 
gious book was The Monitorial Reader, designed for the 
use of Academies and Schools ; and as a Monitor to youth, 
holding up to their view models whereby to form their own 
characters," by Daniel Adams, M.D. Its moral training 
related to truth, integrity, honesty, industry, and temper- 
ance. 

We note, then, in the textbooks produced after the 
sectarian book law, nothing that could be termed sectarian 
in character, at least as between Protestant sects. There 
was a diminishing amount of space devoted to selections 
of Bible quotations and Bible stories; occasionally we find 
selections on Creation, or others of a broad religious char- 
acter; and sometimes a hymn or sermon was inserted. 
Morality and ethics had come by 1837 to replace practically 
all the definitely religious content in the textbooks, and 
what religion remained was given incidentally or as litera- 
ture. After this there was no tendency to restore the 
religious element. 

But a sectarian instruction was still possible through 


155 The Child’s Guide, anon. (3d ed., Brookfield, 1831). 

156 Samuel Worcester, A Second Book for Reading and Spelling 
(Boston, 1831). 

157 Daniel Adams, The Monitorial Reader (Keene, 1839). 


Public Religious Education 107 


special doctrinal books or oral instruction; and it does not 
appear that the latter would have violated the law. Horace 
Mann states that when he assumed the direction of the 
Board of Education at this time he found many doctrinal 
books and many teachers giving oral doctrinal instruction. 
In one case by printed directions to teachers a school com- 
mittee enjoined the use of a doctrinal catechism twelve 
years after the law was passed in 1827.15 But if this 
had not been entirely exceptional it would not have been 
mentioned in this way. It is probable that there was very 
little catechism teaching after 1827. The New Englander 
stated that it had known no case of the use of the cate- 
chism after 1818, and that the only direct religious instruc- 
tion was the addresses of visitors. It believed that since 
that date the plan of giving no direct religious instruction 
had in its essential features been generally observed in 
the New England common schools. Bible reading was 
not considered religious instruction.°® 

A slight relation of the state to religious education dur- 
ing the period 1780-1837 came through its incorporation of 
various religious, educational, and philanthropic institu- 
tions. One of the earliest and most important of these was 
the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, authorized 
to work among the Indians and others destitute of religious 
instruction. Its charter provided: 

‘Persons employed as teachers in any capacity shall be 
men of the Protestant religion, of reputed piety, loyalty, 
prudence, knowledge and literature, and of other Christian 
and necessary qualifications suited to their respective 
stations.” 7°° 

Other institutions which doubtless gave more or less re- 
ligious education, mentioned as examples of this large 
class, were: The Elliot School in Roxbury, March 9, 1804 ;'** 


158 rath Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1848, p. 113. 
159 The New Englander, April, 1848, p. 246. 

160 Perpetual Laws, pp. 421-423. 

161 Sen. Doc. 90, 18306. 


108 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


The Massachusetts Society for Promoting Christian Knowl- 
edge, February 20, 1807; 1° Trustees of the Malden Min- 
isterial Fund, June 20, 1807;7°' The Salem Atheneum, 
March 6, 1810; 76! Maine Charity School, February 25, 
1814; 1°? Boston Society for Religious and Moral Instruc- 
tion of the Poor, February 21, 1820; 78 The Monitorial 
School in Boston, June 8, 1824; 7° The Nantucket Lyceum, 
February 12, 1827; 1° New England Asylum for the Blind, 
March 2, 1829; 7® American Institute of Instruction, March 
4/1831} 4% \Boston) Barm’ School, “March19)7183302 9am 
consequence of the Dartmouth College decision, all incor- 
porations subsequent to March 11, 1831, were by general 
law made liable to change by the General Court.'* 
Incorporations of theological institutions, colleges, and 
academies will be treated in the next chapter on the subject. 
In addition to appropriations for Indian education from 
the School Fund after its establishment, considerable ap- 
propriations made equally and indistinguishably for public 
worship and education, largely religious, went to the Society 
for the Propagation of the Gospel and to Roman Catholic 
priests for the benefit of these wards of the state. There 
were also direct appropriations for building churches and 
school houses. The Society for the Propagation of the Gos- 
pel appear to have received at least $6,600. The appropria- 
tions for Roman Catholic missionary educational work are 
very important, as they represent the only appropriations 
ever made for the educational work of that body of Chris- 
tians apart from institutions under direct public control. 
The first continuing appropriation was made in 1798 on peti- 
tion of Francis Anthony Matignon, ‘“ minister of the Catho- 
lick Church in Boston,” for a teacher of religion and mo- 
rality, to work among the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy 
Indians. The annual grant was subsequently twice in- 
creased. In 1820 there is a further record of a grant of $350 
162 Taws, 1813, chap. 162. 


163 Laws, 1819, chap. 274. 
164 G. S., chap. 68, sec. -41. 


Public Religious Education 109 


annually, but it is not clear how long this continued. If 
the grants were paid annually until 1821 even, the total 
would have been $7,975.1° 

This survey of the relation of the state to public re- 
ligious education under the state constitution until the 
establishment of the Board of Education in 1837 indicates 
that the principle prevailed throughout the state should 
provide such education. It was provided directly through 
churches supported by public taxation compulsory for all 
except Quakers unless voluntarily given, until 1833; and 
after that churches might levy tax on their own members. 
The teaching of piety was enjoined in the statutes and 
under this provision religious education continued in the 
public schools in a decreasing degree until the end of the 
period, through the catechism, the Bible as a reading book, 
daily Bible reading and prayer, the exhortations of min- 
isters at the annual visitation, and the use of the prevalent 
textbooks and oral instruction. By 1827 sectarian doctrinal 
teaching had practically disappeared, and that situation 
was made legally requisite by excluding sectarian books 
from the schools and in the spirit of the law at least dis- 
approving of oral sectarian instruction. During the re- 
mainder of the period the textbooks were free from such 
material, and there appears to have been only a negligible 
amount of it from the catechism or oral instruction. But 
Bible reading and visual and oral instruction in the gen- 
eral principles of Christianity accepted by the Protestant 
denominations in common was not illegal, but rather ex- 
pected; the extent to which it was practised depended on 
the local community. 


165 Appropriations for Sectarian and Private Purposes, pp. 43-58. 


CHAPTER VI 


STATE ENCOURAGEMENT OF RELIGIOUS 
EDUCATION IN HIGHER INSTITUTIONS, 
1780-18 37 


Ir witt be recalled that the constitution adopted in 1780 
had made it the duty of the legislature ‘“ to cherish the 
interests of literature and the sciences, and all seminaries 
of them.” It will be our purpose now to determine to 
what extent the legislature did follow this injunction, first 
in regard to academies and similar institutions, and secondly 
in regard to colleges and theological institutions. It will 
also be shown to what extent these institutions taught 
religion. 

We have seen that the old Latin grammar schools proved 
unfitted to the needs of other than the professional classes, 
and that the modern high schools did not even begin to 
take their places until after 1820. The gap was largely 
filled by academies and other schools of a similar character. 
The term academy appears to have been used first by 
Milton in his Tractate on Education, where it referred to 
a classical institution with some science added. Benjamin 
Franklin used the term in reference to a project for the 
public education of youth in Pennsylvania and it was from 
this that the name developed in relation to American sec- 
ondary schools... The academies of Massachusetts were 
often founded by religious denominations or individuals 
with a religious purpose and had largely a religious aim; 
but differed from the grammar schools in a diminished 
Latin and Greek content and the substitution of some crude 
scientific instruction. Because they charged tuition and 
attracted the patronage of the wealthy, both in the way 


1 Barnard, American Journal of Education, XXX, p. 760. 
IO 


State Encouragement of Religious Education 111 


of donations and students, they hampered the development 
of a democratic system of public education. But in origin 
this was probably not intended. Rather the purpose was 
to extend the benefits of education and religion; and when 
the public education was falling below the requirements 
of law it was natural that those who were peculiarly in- 
terested in the educational and religious welfare of the 
people should have followed the English model in the 
endowment of private institutions. 

The forerunner of the academies was the Dummer Char- 
ity School, opened February 28, 1763, in Byfield Parish, 
Newbury, in accordance with the will of Governor Dummer, 
who had lived in Newbury and gave the ancestral farm for 
the maintenance of the school. According to the terms of his 
will there were three trustees, of whom two were clergymen, 
to hold the trust. The funds were to be administered by a 
board consisting of the ministers of Byfield Parish and 
and five men elected by the town meeting. This board 
was empowered to choose a schoolmaster, who was re- 
movable only by the overseers of Harvard College. The 
unavoidable conflicts of trustees and board led to a petition 
for incorporation in 1782.” The act of incorporation stated 
that the school had trained for service in church and state, 
and therefore trustees were incorporated to “ maintain and 
support masters and teachers, for the promotion of piety 
and virtue’ and other subjects. Part of the trustees were 
clergymen.° 

The first legislature incorporation of an academy was that 
of the Phillips Academy in Andover on October 4, 1780. The 
foundation of this institution occurred two years earlier, 
when Hon. Samuel Phillips and Hon. John Phillips con- 
veyed in trust a parcel of land and £1614 “to support a 
public free school or academy, for the purpose of instructing 
youth, not only in the English and Latin grammar, writ- 
ing and arithmetic, and those sciences wherein they are 


2 Exercises at the One Hundred and Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of 
Dummer Academy, pp. 29-33. 3 Perpetual Laws, pp. 406-408. 


112 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


commonly taught; but more especially to learn the great 
end and real business of living.” This first and principal 
object was the promotion of true piety and virtue, con- 
ceived in terms of the narrowest Calvinism. The daily 
impressing of the points of Calvinism was considered es- 
sential to the accomplishment of the design of the institu- 
tion, and to safeguard this only Protestants were ever to 
be concerned in the administration of the trust or in the 
work of instruction. The act of incorporation followed 
a formula that it was “ for the purpose of promoting true 
virtue and piety,’ which came to be used in substantially 
the same form in all incorporations of academies in our 
period. A major part of the trustees were required to be 
laymen and they constituted a close corporation. It was 
specifically provided that the trustees must not act contrary 
to the design of the first founders.» When John Phillips 
died he intensified the Calvinistic theological activity of 
the school by leaving the residue of the estate to the acad- 
emy for this purpose. Until a regular orthodox professor 
of divinity should be established in the school, the students 
were to work under the tutelage of some eminent Calvinistic 
minister. On June 20, 1807, the academy was authorized 
to hold more property in order to give theological instruc- 
tion, and the following August it received from private 
4 Trustees of Phillips Academy v. King, in 12 Mass. 546-547. The 
narrowly sectarian aim of the institution was provided for especially 
because it was expected that many of the students would be in prepa- 
ration for the ministry. Accordingly it was made the duty of the 
master “not only to instruct and establish them in the truth of 
Christianity, but also early and diligently to inculcate upon them the 
great and important doctrines of the existence of one true God, the 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; of the fall of man, the depravity of 
human nature, the necessity of an atonement, and of our being re- 
newed in the spirit of our minds; the doctrine of repentance towards 
God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ; of our sanctification 
by the Holy Spirit, and justification by the grace of God, through the 
redemption that is in Jesus Christ, in opposition to the erroneous and 
dangerous doctrine of justification by our own merit, or a dependence 
on self-righteousness; together with other important doctrines and 
duties of our holy religion.” 5 Perpetual Laws, pp. 403-405. 


State Encouragement of Religious Education 113 


donors buildings and $20,000 for a theological institution 
“upon Calvinistic principles expressed in the Westminster 
Assembly’s Shorter Catechism.” ® The further history of 
this theological institution will be discussed in connection 
with other schools of that type. 

Another early academy was Leicester Academy, which 
at its foundation was the only educational institution higher 
than a district school in Worcester County. Ebenezer 
Crafts and Jacob Davis had given a mansion house and 
lands to promote piety and learning and it, like Phillips, was 
incorporated “ for the purpose of promoting true piety and 
virtue.” It was a close corporation with six clergymen 
among the original trustees, but a majority of the board 
had to be laymen.’ The legislature had refused incorpora- 
tion until £1,000 was subscribed as a fund. The town of 
Leicester gave £500 in securities.* In 1823 the Calvinistic 
type was fastened upon it by a gift of about $8,000 by 
Israel Waters of Charlton “for the purpose of supporting 
an Instructor or Instructors, of the Congregational Calvin- 
istic order, in the higher branches of Literature.” ® 

A similar act of incorporation was given in 1784 to the 
Derby School in Hingham, to which Sarah Derby had given 
lands for what was then unique, a coéducational institu- 
tion.?° 

An instance of an academy with partial local public 
support was Groton Academy, incorporated in 1793. The 
school was started by associates who subscribed for 105 
shares at five pounds each, of which 40 were taken by the 
town, on an equal basis with the others. One tenth of 
the school money of the town annually went to the academy. 
In 1797 it was admitted that town and state aid was neces- 


6 Trustees of Phillips Academy v. King, in 12 Mass. 549-552. 

7 Perpetual Laws, pp. 409-411. 

8 The Centenary of Leicester Academy. Historical Address by Hon. 
Wm. W. Rice, Sept. 4, 1884 (Worcester, 1884), p. 24. 

9 Luther Wright, Education. An Address delivered at Leicester Acad- 
emy, Dec. 25, 1833 (Worcester, 1834), p. 34. 

10 Perpetual Laws, pp. 412-414. 


114 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


sary to keep it going. In a petition to the state it showed 
pupils were paying 20 cents per week in addition to 
the payments by the town and still it was running in debt. 
Board was one dollar per week, raised 17 cents in winter." 

The relation of the state to these and many other acad- 
emies extended farther than the mere act of incorporation. 
While there were from the beginning some misgivings lest 
these schools might take the place of the more democratic 
town schools, they were nevertheless given state aid; the 
fact that they gave religious education was considered a 
warrant rather than objection for this. Said Governor John 
Hancock in his message of January 30, 1793: 

“Amongst the means by which our government has been 
raised to its present height of prosperity, that of education 
has been the most efficient; you will therefore encourage 
and support our University and Academies; but more 
watchfully the Grammar and other town schools. These 
offer equal advantages to poor and rich; should the support 
of such institutions be neglected, that kind of education 
which a free government requires to maintain its force, would 
be very soon forgotten.” 

Similarly that staunch democrat, Governor Samuel Adams, 
in his message of June 2, 1795, approved the patriotic zeal 
of citizens to establish academies, but feared the possibility 
of injuring the town grammar schools, where rich and poor 
had equal advantages. He feared this might result in a less 
equal and universal dissemination of “ that useful learning, 
instruction, and social feelings in the early parts of life; ” 
and at the same time approved the support of teachers 
of piety, religion, and morality.” 

Governor Caleb Strong, on June 4, 1801, discussed only 
the Jefferson election, the militia, education, and religion. 
He believed that it was necessary to habituate children to re- 
straint and cherish the virtuous propensities of their hearts, 

11 H, R. Doc. 261, 1859. 


12 Laws and Resolves, 1792-1793, p. 692. 
18 Laws and Resolves, 1794-1795, pp. 610-611. 


State Encouragement of Religious Education 115 


and deplored the bad examples of teachers. He approved 
the establishment by the fathers of schools for education 
in literature, religion, and morality. He suggested state aid 
for new towns and plantations." 

Despite this grudging support of the executives, who 
preferred the democratic town system, the legislature in 
1797 adopted a definite system of state aid. On February 
25, 1797, a joint special committee on the subject of acad- 
emies at large submitted an important report, said to have 
been penned by Nathan Dane, author of the Northwest 
Ordinance of 1787.'° It recommended the principle of 
continuing state endowments with state lands in Maine, with 
an equal favor to all parts of the commonwealth so that 
there would be no grant unless there were 30- or 40,000 
inhabitants not otherwise provided for, and with no grants 
unless permanent funds had been already secured from 
the towns or individual donors adequate to erect and 
repair necessary buildings, support the corporation, provide 
apparatus and books, and pay part of the salaries. Noth- 
ing was said in regard to religious instruction, and it was 
undoubtedly taken for granted. At this time 15 acad- 
emies had been incorporated and the Derby School served 
practically the same purpose. Leicester, Marblehead, and 
Bristol Academy at Taunton had already received each a 
township of land, as well as land grants to Fryeburgh, 
Machias, Hallowell, and Berwick in Maine. It was calcu- 
lated that the endowed colleges would answer in their 
sections. The committee proposed that one half a township 
be given to those which could qualify under the above con- 
ditions and had not yet received grants. Dummer, Phillips, 
Groton, and Westford could immediately qualify; others 
would be considered qualified when funds had been se- 
cured to the extent of $3,000. The legislature ordered 
the report printed and grants made to the first appli- 
cants from locations approved by the legislature, which 


14 Laws and Resolves, 1800-1801, pp. 578-580. 
15 Barnard, American Journal of Education, XVI, p. 416. 


116 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


gave evidence of the required fund.1® In consequence of 
this decision, Dummer Academy, Phillips Academy, Groton 
Academy,!7 and New Salem Academy *® speedily received 
their grants. The accompanying table shows the extent 
of financial aid and the number of academies incorporated 
LO 21827, 


STATE SUPPORT OF ACADEMIES, 1780-1837 19 


Date of Land 

Name Place Incorporation Grant Value 1832 
Phillips 2° Andover Oct. 4, 1780 1% T $11,040 
Dummer Newbury Oct. 3, 1782 wT 11,040 
Leicester 21 Leicester Mar. 23, 1784 T 55,200 
Bristol Taunton June 30, 1792 L 58,177.50 
Marblehead Marblehead Nov. 17, 1792 ak 55,200 
Plymouth Plymouth Mar. 19, 1793 

Westfield 22 Westfield June 17, \1703 e070 5,520 
Westford 23 Westford Sept. 28, 1703 % T 11,040 


16 Resolves, 1796, chap. 44. The report is printed after the resolve. 

17 Resolves, 1796, chap. 45. 

18 Resolves, 1797, chap. 46. 

19 This table is compiled from the following sources: H. R. Doc. 
IO; 18275) Huh. Doc) 20) 118 9250 Séne DOC. OO; u1S 30 fa ee eee 
32, 1848; goth Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., Appendix, pp. 176-181, 
for Walton’s Report on Academies; Appropriations for Sectarian and 
Private Purposes, pp. 43-58; Barnard, American Journal of Education, 
XXX, pp. 760-808; The Centenary of Leicester Academy, pp. 24-29; 
Washburn, Sketches of the Town of Leicester, p. 17. It does not include 
twenty-five in Maine when the territory constituted a part of Massa- 
chusetts, but no different principle was involved there. It is believed 
the list is as accurate as one can now be made. It includes seminaries 
and other institutions which seem to have been equivalent to academies, 
but not incorporated grammar schools, high schools, and town school 
funds. Some of those given may never have opened their doors. The 
institutions were termed academies unless otherwise noted. The land 
grants are given in terms of townships. Their estimated value 
is a rough estimate given by the Land Office in 1832 to the House. 
Other than land grants are given in the notes at the bottom. 

20 Granted £200 tax exemption on income, Resolves, 1786, chap. 75. 

21 Land sold for $9,000. Also received a lottery yielding $1,400 and 
a small farm estimated at $400. 

22 Received £600 from town and $5,000 in 1856. 

23 Land sold for $5,810. 


State Encouragement of Religious Education 117 


Name 
Groton 
New Salem 
Deerfield 
Derby °4 
‘Milton 
Bridgewater 
Framingham 
Nantucket 
Berkshire 
Franklin 
Bradford 25 
Sandwich 
Monson 
Lynn 
Day’s 
Middlesex 
Female 
Pittsfield 
Female 
Newburyport 
Friend’s 
Monmouth 
Amherst 
Hopkins 
Salem Street 
Kingston 
Nichols 
Billerica 
Sanderson 
Merrimack 
Lexington 
Wesleyan 
Female Clas- 


sical Seminary 


Haverhill 
Williamstown 
Sherburne 
Lancaster 
Milford 
Weymouth & 
Braintree 


24 Originally incorporated in 1784 as Derby School. 


Place 

Groton 

New Salem 
Deerfield 
Hingham 
Milton 
Bridgewater 
Framingham 
Nantucket 
Lenox 
Andover 
Bradford 
Sandwich 
Monson 
Lynn 
Wrentham 


Concord 


Pittsfield 
Newburyport 


New Bedford 
Amherst 
Hadley 
Boston 
Kingston 
Dudley 
Billerica 
Ashfield 
Bradford 
Lexington 
Wilbraham 


Brookfield 
Haverhill 
Williamstown 
Sherburne 
Lancaster 
Milford 


Weymouth 


Date of 
Incorporation 
Sept. 28, 1793 
Feb. 25, 1705 
Mar. I, 1797 
Mar. 11, 1784 
Mar. 3, 1708 
Feb. 26, 1799 
Mar. 1, 1799 
Mar. 3, 1801 
Feb. 22, 1803 
June 21, 1803 
Feb. 10, 1804 
Feb. 21, 1804 
June 21, 1804 
Mar. 16, 1805 
Mar. 13, 1806 
Mar. 14, 1806 
Feb. 13, 1807 
June 20, 1807 


Feb. 29, 1812 
Feb. 13, 1816 
Feb. 14, 1816 
Dec. 9, 1816 
Decent Tent s16 
June 18, 1819 
Jan. 31, 1820 
June 16, 1821 
Feb. 73) 1822 

Feb. 16, 1822 
Kener 824 


Feb. 15, 1826 
Jan. 28, 1828 
Feb. 11, 1828 
Feb. 11, 1828 
Febsitra1828 
Feb. 11, 1828 


Feb. 28, 1828 


25 Coeducational until 1836; thereafter female. 


Land 
Grant 
VW 
Ye 
Ve 
Y% 


cS 
HAAR AA AAH 


ep ata 
reds 


% T 


% T 


Value 1832 
22,080 
33,120 

5,520 
3,312 
8,280 
5,520 
5,520 


Discontinued 


3,312 
4,416 


8,280 


4,416 


3,312 
3,864 


3,312 


3,864 


Changed 1797. 


118 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


Date of Land 


Name Place Incorporation Grant Value 1832 
Ipswich 
Female Ipswich Feb. 28, 1828 
Stockbridge Stockbridge Mar. 11, 1828 
South Reading Wakefield June 12, 1828 
Greenfield H.S. 
for Young Ladies Greenfield June 12, 1828 
Topsfield Topsfield June 12, 1828 


Sheldon English & 
Classical School Southampton Jan. 27, 1829 


Partridge Duxbury Feb; 13, 1829 
Round Hill 

Institution Northampton’ Feb. 18, 1829 
Hanover Hanover Feb. 18, 1829 
Abbott Female Andover Feb. 26, 1829 
Middleborough Feb. 28, 1829 
Chatham Chatham Feb. 28, 1829 
Northfield Northfield June 11, 1829 
Gates’ Marlborough Feb. 18, 1830 
Woodbridge School South Hadley June 5, 1830 
Warren Woburn Mar. 10, 1830 % T 26 
Mt. Pleasant 

Cl. Insti. Amherst Feb. 16, 1831 
Newton Female Newton Feb. 4, 1831 
Boxford Boxford Mar. 4, 1831 
Female Seminary 

in Springfield Springfield Mar. 4, 1831 
Egremont Egremont Jan. 24, 1832 
Pawtucket Pawtucket Feb. 20, 1832 
Fellenburg Greenfield Feb 25, 1832 
Millbury Millbury Mar. 5, 1832 
Worcester Female Worcester Mar. 10, 1832 
Lynn Lynn Mar. 13, 1832 
Dorchester Dorchester Mar. 20, 1832 
Adams Mar. 20, 1832 
Gooddale Bernardston Jan. 24, 1833 
Westminister Westminister Jan. 30, 1833 
Charlestown 

Female Seminary Charlestown Mar. 1, 1833 
Central Village Dracut Mar. 1, 1833 
Edgartown Edgartown Mar. 5, 1833 
Dukes County Tisbury Mar. 7, 1833 


26 Probably. never received, though granted in 1808. Not in Land 
Report. 


State Encouragement of Religious Education 119 


Name Place 
Franklin County Shelburne 
Randolph Randolph 
Belvidere 


Female Seminary Tewksbury 
Boston Seminary 
for Young Ladies Boston 


Fuller Newton 
Beverly Beverly 
Belmont Institute Belmont 
Pierce Middleborough 
Lawrence Falmouth 
Winnisimmet Chelsea 
Northampton 

Female Northampton 
Mt. Holyoke 


Female Seminary South Hadley 
Sedgwick Seminary 

for Young Ladies Jamaica Plain 
Belchertown Class- 

ical School 
Ambherst 

Female Seminary Amherst 
Mountain Seminary Worthington 
New England 

Christian Academy Beverly 


Belchertown 


Rochester Rochester 
East Bridgewater East 
Bridgewater 


Wheaton 
Female Seminary Norton 


Date of Land 

Incorporation Grant Value 1832 
Mar. 20, 1833 

Mar. 25, 1833 

Mar. 26, 1833 
Mar. 28, 1833 
Jan. 31, 1834 
Jan. 30, 1835 
Mar. 6, 1835 
Mar. 7, 1835 
Mar. 7, 1835 
Mar. 12, 1835 


Mar. 109, 1835 


Fel elt rS36 


Mar. 11, 1836 


Mar. 16, 1836 


Apr. 8, 1836 
Feb. 7, 1837 


Mar. 4, 1837 
Apr. 5, 1837 
Apter 5.1037 


Mar. Io, 1837 


The table indicates that until 1800 nearly all the acad- 
emies which were incorporated received a grant of land, 
of varying value due to location and consequent develop- 


ment. 


The time of sale determined the amount actually 


received. After that date the policy of the 1797 report 

did not result in a gift of land to all incorporated. After 

1820 the only grants were to Nichols Academy on February 

8, 1825, and to Wesleyan Academy, March 11, 1828.27 

Meantime the codification of the education law had taken 
27 H. R. Doc. 32, 1842. 


120 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


place in 1827, and in connection with that a committee 
presented a report which changed the attitude of the state 
toward these institutions. It will be remembered that 
James G. Carter was then advocating a democratic system 
of town schools with specially trained teachers. This view 
was accepted by the committee, which viewed the increase 
and endowment of seminaries and academies as “ highly 
prejudicial to the interests of the common free schools.” 
It was held that the act of incorporation did not give them 
a claim upon the state, and it was inconsistent to appropri- 
ate to them when the public schools needed it more. No 
reference was made to the religious education of the acad- 
emies and seminaries and that was not then a reason for the 
refusal of funds.’® 

The only exception to this rule in our period was there- 
fore Wesleyan Academy. This was the oldest Methodist 
institution in America and was meant to give special aid 
to ministerial students.2® It had received a charter in 
1824 “for the purpose of promoting religion and morality, 
and for the education of youth, in such of the liberal arts, 
and sciences, as the trustees for the time being shall direct.” 
There was no clause prohibiting religious tests or the teach- 
ing of sectarian doctrines.*° Besides the half township of 
Maine land granted March 11, 1828,°! the institution in 
1837 secured the favorable report of a resolve for an appro- 
priation of $500 semi-annually for five years, the intention 
being to use it for the establishment of a department of 
teacher training. The institution then had 400 students 
and was turning more away. This was believed to be a 
record attendance for a New England academy. However, 
the resolve was not passed.*? 

The grant to Dukes County Academy was only an ap- 


28 H. R. Doc. 29, 1827. 

29 Barnard, American Journal of Education, XXX, p. 708. 
30 Laws, 1823, chap. 80. 

31 Resolves, 1827, chap. 99. 

82 Sen. Doc. 38, 1837; Resolves, 1837. 


State Encouragement of Religious Education 121 


parent exception, for in the 1797 report this county had been 
offered half a township if it would raise $3,000 for an acad- 
emy. This condition was not met, but all the other counties 
did receive their grants, which were offered at the same 
time. It was believed that the public interest was served 
the same now as originally, and to take the place of a 
half township, a grant of $3,000 was made on March 28, 
toe 5t 

We shall now consider the denominational influence and 
religious aims and content in these institutions, more partic- 
ularly those receiving state aid. 

Dummer Academy, where “ the pupil dwells among the 
scenes of nature and is incited by the stillness of her 
beauties to study and improvement,” was teaching in 1837 
Moral and Intellectual Philosophy, Evidences of Christian- 
ity, and Natural Theology. Seats for students were pro- 
vided in the Byfield meeting house.** 

We have seen that the original donors required a Calvin- 
istic education in Phillips Academy. About 1814 the re- 
ligious exercises every morning included an invocation, 
reading of Scripture with notes from Scott’s Comvnentary, 
a hymn, and a prayer by the master, John Adams. The 
Same was repeated every afternoon, and every Monday a 
class recited in Mason’s Self-Knowledge. Singing was re- 
quired of all and practice in commenting on Scripture of 
the seniors.** That there was a vital religious spirit among 
the students may be concluded from the fact that in 
1813 54 students for their mutual benefit adopted a Con- 
stitution of the Society for Promoting Good Morals, mutu- 
ally agreeing to a course of vital piety and strict conduct.*® 

83 H.R. Doc. 58, 1835; Resolves, 1835, chap. 76. 

34 An Account of Dummer Academy (Boston, 1837), pp. 6—-I0. 

2°. Holtz, ppii 375138; 

36 Constitution of the Society for Promoting Good Morals in Phillips 
Academy, Andover (Andover, 1814). This agreement included the 
following: ‘1. We will endeavor to maintain an impressive sense of 


the Being and Omnipotence of God, who will hereafter judge us ac- 
cording to our works; sensible that a belief of this truth is the most 


122 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


Among other early academies, we have seen also that 
Leicester was Calvinistic. In his dedicatory address for 
the new building on December 25, 1833, Luther Wright, 
the principal preceptor, said it was dedicated to science, liter- 
ature, and religion, and that the teacher should exert a decid- 
edly religious influence in the sphere in which he acts.** 
Likewise the preceptors at Deerfield were expected “ to instill 
into the minds of the pupils moral and Christian principles, 
and form in them habits of virtue and the love of piety.” 
To this end there was a fine of four cents for absence 
from morning prayers~at five, and a fine of two cents 
for tardiness.** The rules at Bridgewater in 1818 pro- 
vided : 

‘Tt shall be the indispensable duty of the Preceptor to 
open his school in the morning of each day with reading 
a portion of the sacred Scriptures and with prayer, and 
also to close it in the evening with the same exercises, re- 
quiring each scholar, male and female, during the reading 
of such portion of Scripture, to have their Bibles open and 
look over the same when read.” 

In addition the preceptor was required to address them 
on religious and moral subjects each Wednesday, and teach 
the being of God, redemption purchased by Christ, future 
rewards and punishments, and a long list of virtues. At- 
tendance at public worship was required on Sunday, fast and 
thanksgiving days, sacramental lectures, and public occa- 
sions.°® At Westford it was made the duty of the preceptor 
to inculcate morality, piety, and virtue. Prayers and Scrip- 


powerful dissuasive from sin.” They further promised never to take 
the name of God in vain, to have a religious regard for the Lord’s day 
and to abstain from classical studies and newspapers and to attend 
public worship, to read some of the Bible daily, to obey their superiors, 
to tell the truth, be contented, avoid vulgar, obscene language, abstain 
from wine and ardent spirits, and reprove one another. 

37 Wright, pp. I, 23. 

38 Johnson, pp. 147-150. 

39 Historical Notice of the Bridgewater Academy from its Foundation 
in 1799, to 1858 (Boston, 1858), pp. 28-31. 


State Encouragement of Religious Education 123 


ture reading were required morning and evening, part of the 
reading being by the pupils with all following in their 
Bibles. A monitor was appointed for each meeting house 
to check the attendance of the pupils at Sabbath worship.*° 
Monson Academy had clergymen of the Congregational 
church as its first two presidents of the corporation, and 
they were particularly interested in the training of men for 
the ministry. However, the institution never required de- 
nominational or sectarian tests, and the paramount object 
long remained to create a “ healthy moral influence by the 
sanctions of religion freely and earnestly expressed.” ** 
Nichols Academy was founded by Mr. Nichols as an 
Universalist institution, coéducational, and with religious 
teaching and compulsory attendance at Sabbath worship, 
unless excused by parents, guardians, or preceptors.*” 

A slightly different institution was the Berkshire Gym- 
nasium, an imitation of the European schools of that name. 
But the religious content was no different, for it taught 
natural and revealed religion and sacred music. Familiar 
religious instruction was given on the Sabbath and other 
proper occasions, with regular Bible study and church at- 
tendance required.*® A somewhat more religious atmos- 
phere was to be expected at Wesleyan Academy. A care- 
fully ordered régime is indicated by the following: 

“The bell will ring in the morning a little before sun- 
rise, for rising, at which time the scholars shall arise, wash 
and prepare for family prayers, which, in thirty minutes, 
will be notified by a second bell, when all the students shall 
repair to the dining room, in due order.” 

There were evening prayers at eight, and on the Sabbath 
becoming sobriety was enjoined, with attendance at public 
worship, a period of meditation and prayer in the students’ 


40 Extracts from By-Laws of Westford Academy (undated). 

41 goth Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1875-1876, Appendix, 
Ppp. 264, 265, 269. 

42 Catalogue, 1835 (Worcester, 1835), pp. II, 12. 

43 Catalogue of the Berkshire Gymnasium, 1830, p. 7. 


124 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


rooms upon return, and the reading of Bibles and other 
good books, not school studies.** 

Among other institutions Westminster Academy claimed 
to exert a ‘‘ decided and salutary ” but unsectarian religious 
influence.*® Millbury Academy had the usual daily Scrip- 
ture reading and prayers and attendance at public worship 
on Sunday.*® Franklin Academy was a pioneer in combin- 
ing school education with manual labor on a farm for self- 
supporting students. In the Catalogue of 1833 we find: 

“The Ladies will soon have exercise if they choose in 
cultivating the silk worm and in manufacturing silk... . 
The morals, religion, industrial habits and unanimity of 
the inhabitants (of Shelburne Falls) are such as to render 
it a peculiarly safe resort for Ladies and Gentlemen who 
wish for improvement. The Principal preaches in the 
chapel each Sabbath, where the students and others attend 
Bible classes.” 47 

The Fellenberg Academy at Greenfield also used the man- 
ual labor idea, in imitation of the Fellenberg school at 
Hafful, believing that students were less tempted to evil 
if busy. There was a chapel and it was recommended that 
every pupil have a Bible and a dictionary.*® 

The coéducational Lexington Boarding School and Private 
Academy claimed to be free from sectarianism, but taught 
“to revere and love the divine character”? and required 
attendance at public worship on Sunday.*® 

Special reference should be made to the female seminaries 
incorporated in this period, though none of them received 
at that time state aid. They began early in the roth 
century and because they trained women of religious and 
moral earnestness, missionaries and temperance workers, 
they were a favorite source of supply for helpmeets in the 

44 Catalogue, 1834 (Springfield, 1834), pp. 12-14. 
45 Catalogue, 1836 (Worcester, 1836), p. 8. 

46 The Laws of Millbury Academy (Millbury, 1833). 
47 Semi-Annual Catalogue, 1833 (Greenfield), p. 78. 


48 First and Second Annual Reports, 1834 (Greenfield, 1834). 
49 Catalogue, 1835-1836 (Boston, 1836), p. 10. 


State Encouragement of Religious Education 125 


parsonage and were nicknamed “ minister’s rib factories.” °° 
The Greenfield High School for Young Ladies in 1828 
avoided speculative theological opinions, but had the usual 
morning and evening devotions and Sunday church attend- 
ance, and voluntary circles for religious reading met on 
Saturday and Sunday.*! Ipswich was also preéminently 
Christian, but the most famous institution was Mt. Holyoke, 
founded by the saintly Mary Lyon. In a pamphlet circu- 
lated just before opening, she said: 

“The grand features of this institution are to be an 
elevated standard of science, literature, and refinement, and 
a moderate standard of expense; all to be guided and modi- 
fied by the spirit of the gospel. Here we trust will be 
found a delightful spot for those ‘ whose heart has stirred 
them up’ to use all their talents in the great work of serving 
their generation, and of advancing the Redeemer’s King- 
domia*? 

The means used to this end were two stated days of 
prayer and fasting, voluntary with the pupils, annually on 
the first Monday in January and the last Thursday in 
February; weekly Scripture study; five weekly scriptural 
addresses ; weekly meetings of teachers for prayer and con- 
ference; sectional prayer meetings; half hour of private 
communion with God morning and evening. In all the 
work there was a vital piety, and 739 conversions were 
claimed in 20 years.*® 

Besides the religious atmosphere and exercises of the 
academies described above, they were very similar in the 
use of textbooks of religion and morality. The accompany- 
ing table indicates the extent to which this existed in some 
typical institutions. 

50 Johnson, pp. 145, 146. 

51 Outline of the Plan of Education Pursued at the Greenfield High 
School for Young Ladies, 1828-1829 (Greenfield, 1829), pp. 6, 12, 15. 

52 The pamplet is given in Old South Leaflets, V1, p. 426. 


53 Memorial. Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Mt. Holyoke Female 
Seminary (South Hadley, 1862), pp. 39-51. 


126 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


RELIGIOUS CONTENT IN CURRICULA OF ACADEMIES °4 


Gk. Moral Nat. Evidences Eccl. Sacr.  Blair’s 
Test. Philos. Theol. of Chr. Hist. Geog. Lectures. 


Nichols * . 
Groton °5 * 7 
Hopkins 5° ng 
Amherst 57 * } * * 
South Reading 58 * * . 
Sanderson 59 
Wesleyan ®° _ 
Westminster * 
Millbury x * 
Fellenberg 1 x 
Franklin a * 
Ipswich Female * * a * 
Brookfield Female ® 
Classical Sem. Wl * 
Mt. Holyoke &* * * * * * 
Greenfield H. S. 
for Young Ladies * * * 


The character of the textbooks used in these studies has 
been sufficiently explained in connection with the public 
high schools. It is clear that all of these academies and 
similar institutions taught some religion. In the beginning 
it was strictly sectarian, but later in the period many were 
advertising that they were non-sectarian. State support 
was given in the beginning to institutions which were of 


4 Unless otherwise noted the references are those given on the pre- 
ceding pages. A usual requirement was that pupils bring Bibles. 

55 Catalogue, 1837 (Concord, 1837), p. 12. 

56 Catalogue, 1826 (Amherst, 1826), p. 8. 

57 Catalogue, 1827 (Amherst, 1827), p. 8. 

58 Annual Catalogue, 1831 (Boston, 1831), p. 7. 

59 Catalogue, 1829 (Greenfield, 1829), p. 6. 

680 Hebrew, Chaldee, and Syriac taught. Barnard, Am. J. of Ed., 
DO. OC 6 ISIE (of 

81 Catalogue, 1834 (Greenfield, 1834), p. 8. 

62 Catalogue, 1830 (Newburyport, 1830), p. 7. 

83 Catalogue, 1826 (Brookfield, 1826), p. 8. 

64 Annual Catalogue, 1837-38 (no publisher given), p. 9. 


State Encouragement of Religious Education 127 


a narrow sectarian aim, and when a new policy of state aid 
to public schools rather than academies was adopted it was 
dictated by democratic sentiments rather than opposition 
to the state aiding religious education. The one real excep- 
tion to the carrying out of the new policy was in behalf 
of an institution more religious than the ordinary acad- 
emies. Hence we may say that throughout the period the 
state approved of the principle of state aid to academies, 
sectarian or non-sectarian. 

Turning to colleges, we find that there were four which 
received state aid during the period, if we include Bowdoin 
in Maine. This was treated on the same basis as the col- 
leges in the present territory of Massachusetts and will be 
noticed only in regard to appropriations. 

We have previously seen that Harvard had been largely 
controlled during the colonial period through the Board 
of Overseers and directly through the General Court. Ap- 
propriations from the government previous to 1786 have 
been calculated at $116,157.74, devoted to current expenses, 
aid to students, and buildings.®* Chapter V of the con- 
stitution of the commonwealth of 1780 relating to Harvard 
was approved by the Corporation and Overseers before 
ratification.°® Herein the privileges and grants were con- 
firmed because ‘“ the encouragement of arts and sciences, 
and all good literature, tends to the honor of God, the 
advancement of the Christian religion, and the great benefit 
of this and the other United States of America.’ The 
Board of Overseers was changed to include the Governor, 
Lieutenant-Governor, Council, and Senate, the President 
of Harvard and the ministers of the Congregational churches 
of Cambridge, Watertown, Charlestown, Boston, Roxbury, 
and Dorchester.®’ This created no change in the principles 
involved in the control of the institution, but made the 
membership of the Board more specific. The Corporation 

OS hs DOC. pI LZ bTOgs pS6N) DOC. 134.8 1854: 


66 Sen. Doc. 158, 1849. 
87 Chap. V, sec. 1, in American Antiquarian Society Pamphlets, 312. 


128 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


now tended to become less narrowly religious through the 
selection of more business men and _ publicists.** 

There is also evidence that after the Revolution Harvard 
began to depart from the compulsory theological instruction 
of earlier days. Until 1784 all resident graduates and 
Seniors and Juniors had been compelled to attend the 
divinity exercises, consisting of a dissertation by a professor 
on a controversial topic, followed by catechetical question- 
ing on it. Thereafter only those on divinity foundations 
or specializing in divinity were compelled to attend the 
catechetical part; those-not to be clergy had to attend 
only the public lectures.°® In 1789 the Episcopalian stu- 
dents were permitted to attend public worship in the Cam- 
bridge Episcopal church instead of in the chapel.7° But as 
late as 1810 the President was expected to conduct morning 
and evening devotional exercises and expound the Scriptures 
or deliver a religious discourse once a month.” 

The roth century saw the definite splitting of the 
Arian and Socinian elements of Eastern Massachusetts into 
the Unitarian denomination, which was accomplished by 
1815. The more evangelical and missionary Congregation- 
alists of Western Massachusetts followed Jonathan Edwards 
in orthodox trinitarianism. The death of Rev. Dr. Tap- 
pan, Hollis Professor of Divinity, in 1803, naturally pre- 
cipitated a conflict between the two camps for control 
of the theological teaching.”* In the Corporation the pro- 
fessor of Hebrew objected to the choice of anyone not a 
Calvinist ; but the Corporation had long been in the control 
of the liberals. In the Overseers, representing the state 
government and Congregational ministers, objection was 
made by Rev. Jedediah Morse to confirming the choice of 
Rev. Henry Ware, because of lack of orthodoxy. He main- 
tained Hollis had demanded soundness and orthodoxy and 
that at the first election under the donation the Overseers 


88 Quincy, II, p. 255. 71 Ibid., p. 70. 
69 Quincy, II, p. 259. 72 Walker, pp. 329-335. 
so) Bush)! p15'75 


State Encouragement of Religious Education 129 


had examined as to the five points of Calvinism. But the 
reply was made that the college was dedicated to Christ, 
not Calvin; to Christianity, not sectarianism. This view 
prevailed after much wrangling and Harvard was lost to 
the orthodox Congregationalists.” 

Following 1810 there were several attempts to change 
the composition of the Board of Overseers, dictated more 
by political than religious reasons. The Senate wished to 
be relieved of the duty of serving and there was a desire 
to secure clerical members from other sections of the state.”* 
The new Board consisted of the Governor, Lieutenant- 
Governor, Council, President of the Senate, Speaker of the 
House, with 15 ministers of Congregational churches 
and 15 laymen. The Overseers would fill the elective 
positions, only the present ministerial members would re- 
tain their positions as long as Congregational ministers 
in the state.” 

This new law was repealed in 1812 7° without the consent 
of the Corporation and Overseers, and the college called it 
unconstitutional as impairing the obligation of contract,’ 
as was similarly maintained successfully by Dartmouth four 
years later. The result was that two rival Boards acted 
until February 28, 1814, when the General Court with the 
formal acceptance of the Corporation and Overseers passed 
a new law restoring the Board created in 1810 with the 
addition of the Senate.** This status was maintained for 
several decades. This incident, reinforced by the Dart- 
mouth College decision, undoubtedly made it impossible 
for the state to alter the charter without the consent of the 
college. 

Previous to this time the Harvard students had wor- 
shipped in Cambridge on Sunday, but the Overseers now 
advised that it would be better for the students to receive 
religious instruction in the University on the Sabbath. In 


73 Quincy, II, pp. 284-285. 76 Laws, 1811, chap. 157. 
74 Quincy, II, pp. 294-295. 77 Sen. Doc. 158, 1849. 
75 Laws, 1809, chap. 113. 78 Laws, 1813, chap. 194. 


130 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


1814 a chapel was fitted up in University Hall, constructed 
largely from the proceeds of the bank tax provided by 
the state, and a church was organized. For at least 30 
years the members of the faculty of the Divinity School 
conducted public worship for the students here.*® In 1817 
Professor Frisbie was chosen as the first incumbent of the 
Alvord Professorship of Natural Religion, Moral Philos- 
ophy, and Civil Polity.*° 

The question of the relation of the state to Harvard was 
thoroughly investigated by the constitutional convention of 
1820, first by a committee headed by Josiah Quincy, fu- 
ture President of Harvard, which reported no alteration 
advisable and the 1642 charter inviolable; and secondly 
by a committee of which Daniel Webster was chairman, 
which confirmed the Quincy report, but with the consent 
of the Corporation and Overseers presented an amendment 
to the constitution to make all clergy equally eligible to 
the 15 elective positions on the Board of Overseers.*! 
The report added that all institutions for religion, or learn- 
ing, or the relief of the indigent were under the control 
of the law.*? There was not a serious debate on the prop- 
osition as to whether the Congregationalists should be 
permitted to retain that amount of control,** and the con- 
vention voted 227-44 to recommend an amendment for the 
change.** This of course did not prevent the election of 
Congregationalists only to the Board, in the ministerial 
selections. But the mind of the populace was differently 
disposed and the amendment failed of ratification 8,020—- 
20,123, being carried only in Suffolk county, which includes 
Boston, where there was naturally a greater strength of 
the other denominations and more liberality.*® 

79 Quincy, II, pp. 309-310; Bush, p. 96. 

80 Bush, p. 85. 

81 Journal of Debates and Proceedings, p. 619; A Manual for the 
Constitutional Convention, 1917, pp. 36, 37- 

82 Journal of Debates and Proceedings, pp. 527-532, gives report. 


83 Ibid., pp. 543-547. . 
84) 1 bid:, p. SS 85 Tbid., pp. 633-634. 


State Encouragement of Religious Education 131 


It appears that the religion of Harvard at this time did 
not greatly affect the students, as in 1823 only 12 of a 
student body of 302 were reported as “ pious.” There had 
been no revival for years and the Concert for Colleges was 
not observed on Sunday mornings. The only student 
prayer meeting was the weekly meeting of the theological 
societies.°° But theological and religious studies were in 
the curriculum and works studied included Grotius’ de 
Veritate Religionis Christianae, Paley’s Moral Philosophy, 
Paley’s Evidences, Butler’s Analogy. The professor of 
divinity gave lectures to the Seniors.*’ 

The intent of the constitutional amendment proposed in 
1820 was attempted by statute in 1834, to take effect upon 
the acceptance of it by the two college boards.** But this 
caused no change in the elections until 1843, when as a re- 
sult of a change in the political complexion of the state 
the new Board of Overseers appear to have forced it upon 
the Corporation.*® 

Meantime two other colleges had been established in the 
interior of the state. Williams College took its origin from 
a bequest of Col. Ephraim Williams to provide an income 
for a Free School in a town in Western Massachusetts to be 
called Williamstown. Trustees were incorporated in 1785, 
their successors to be chosen by the Supreme Judicial Court 
of the Commonwealth, and their administration to be super- 
vised by the same body. They were authorized to admin- 
ister the fund “in such manner as most effectually to 
answer the pious, generous, and charitable intentions of the 
testator.°° This school was opened in 1791.9? On June 22, 
1793, a college was established by act of the General Court 
and the property of the trustees of the Free School given 


86 Boston Recorder, March 15, 1823, p. 42. 

87 Catalogue, 1825, pp. 21, 22. 

88 Laws, 1834, chap. 129. 

89 Debates and Proceedings in State Convention, 1853, III, p. 253. 
90 Acts, 1784-1785, chap. 49. 

91 Collections of the Mass. Hist. Soc., ser. 1, VIII, pp. 49-53. 


132 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


to it. The state then granted £1,200 and reserved the right 
to alter the charter and appoint overseers.°” 

Williams became more distinctly a religious institution 
than Harvard. The original entrance requirements in- 
volved the ability “to read, parse, and construe, to the 
satisfaction of the president and a tutor, Virgil’s Aeneid, 
Tully’s Orations, and the Evangelists in Greek.” The 
Assembly’s Catechism was used continually as a textbook 
as late as 1865.°* Out of its famous haystack prayer meet- 
ing grew the first American organized effort for foreign mis- 
sions, in the form of the American Board of Commissioners 
for Foreign Missions, It was aimed to have students from 
Williams journey west for missionary work among the 
Indians.°° The development of Unitarianism at Harvard 
naturally sent the orthodox Congregationalist candidates to 
the ministry westward to Williams, so that in 1823 we find 
that about half of the 78 students were ranked as “ pious.” 
The revival spirit centered here as it did not in Harvard. 
All the ministerial students were in a theological society 
and for several years held meetings in a moral wilderness 
near the college, and some students assisted in the town 
Sabbath school. The students attended the Sunday morning 
concert and the Saturday evening prayer meeting in good 
numbers.°® The spirit of the institution was well charac- 
- terized by Dr. Griffin in his Znaugural in 1823: 

‘“‘ And the many prayers which are daily offered up for its 
success, confirm the hope, that, as it has been, so it will 
continue to be, the fountain whence streams shall annually 
issue to make glad the city of God.” °” 

Amherst College was due to the desire of the orthodox 
Calvinists for a college which would not be Unitarian as 


92 Acts, 1793, chap 15. 

93 Bush, p. 226. 

4 Buck, p. 179. 

95 goth Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1875-1876, Appendix, p. 66. 
6 Boston Recorder, March 15, 1823, p. 42. 

97 Boston Recorder, Feb. 22, 1823, p. 32. 


State Encouragement of Religious Education 133 


Harvard and would be more accessible to the central por- 
tion of the state than Williams. In 1815 the Franklin 
County Association of Ministers made the decision for a 
college to be located at Amherst, and it was dedicated the 
same year.®® On February 13, 1816, the institution re- 
ceived a charter as an academy, “ for the purpose of pro- 
moting morality, piety, and religion, and for the instruction 
of youth. .. .” ® Later in the year a half township of land 
was granted.’ 

Meantime the inconvenient location of Williams over 
the mountains from the rest of Massachusetts had led to a 
consideration of a removal to a more central location and 
in 1819 the college actually petitioned the legislature for 
removal to Northampton. One reason on which the peti- 
tion was based was that a college in the western part of 
the state would “ promote the interests both of religion and 
literature in the western counties.” 1°! In-order to promote 
the design of training ministers which had influenced the 
establishment of Amherst Academy, a meeting was held on 
September 29, 1818, at which the Congregational and Pres- 
byterian clergy of Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin, and 
western Worcester counties were present and started a 
movement for a $50,000 subscription for the purpose.’ 
Thus originated the charity fund, “ for the classical educa- 
tion of indigent pious young men with the sole view to the 
Christian ministry.” 1°? A Constitution and System of By- 
Laws under which subscriptions were solicited mentioned 
the possibility of union with Williams and stated payments 
were to be made to the trustees of Amherst and if Williams 
College moved it would be joined in the fund.*** On this 


98 goth Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., Appendix, p. 68. 

99 Laws, 1815, chap. 102. 

100 Supra, p. 163. 

101 Report of the Committee appointed to inquire into Facts relative 
to the Amherst Collegiate Institution, pp. 37-39. 

102 goth Annual Report of the Bd, of Ed., Appendix, p. 69. 

103 Amherst Academy v. Cowls, 6 Pick. 427. 

104 Report of Committee, Amherst Coll. Insti., p. 18. 


134 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


foundation Amherst College was established and the Court 
later decided Amherst could collect on these subscriptions.1° 
Doubtless some of them were really made for the benefit 
of Williams after its removal, and when Williams did not 
move friction developed, and a strong opposition was made 
to the incorporation of Amherst College. 

On September 18, 1821, Dr. Moore became president of 
the institution and on the following day 47 students began 
college studies.1°° The institution was under the direction 
of the Amherst Academy trustees, and especially empha- 
sized moral and religious development in preparation for the 
ministry. Among the texts were the Greek Testament, 
Paley’s Evidences, Paley’s Natural Theology, and Vincent 
on the Catechism. In 1823 there were 98 students, about 
50 of whom were “ pious.” The institution boasted a theo- 
logical society, a missionary society, and a Jews society. 
Prayer meetings were held Sabbath mornings and Satur- 
day evenings, and conference meetings for the people of 
the town Sabbath evenings and during the week. About 
20 students helped teach in the town Sabbath school.’ 

After the General Court had once refused a charter, 
President Moore wrote a letter to the public, explaining 
that the Amherst Collegiate Institution was separate trom 
the Academy and gave the same course of study as the 
oldest colleges of New England; that the friends of learning 
and piety of different denominations had subscribed to 
its funds; that objections to its religious character had been 
made by some “ liberals” but none by “‘ professed friends 
of vital piety of any denomination; ” that though evangeli- 
cal it was established on perfectly liberal principles and 
different denominations were represented on the Board of 
Trustees and in the student body.*®®? When a second peti- 

105 Amherst Academy v. Cowls, 6 Pick. 427. 

106 Heman Humphrey, A Sermon Delivered at the Dedication of 
the College Chapel, Feb. 28, 1827 (Amherst, 1827). 

107 Boston Recorder, Jan. 26, 1822, p. 16; Catalogue, 1822 (Green- 
fieid), pp. Ic—11. 108 [bid., March 15, 1823, p. 42. 

109 Boston Recorder, March 15, 1823, p. 42. 


State Encouragement of Religious Education 135 


tion was presented in June, 1823, care was taken to say it 
gave “an elevated College course —not Theological.” 1° 
President Humphrey termed the opposition “ powerful and 
respectable and active.” +44 An official committee report 
has since said that the charter was refused because of 
jealousy that it might become a “nursery of orthodoxy 
and exclusiveness.” 14” All of this seems to indicate that 
a Harvard Unitarian control of state politics was at first 
back of the refusal and lends color to the story of Bush 
that the Calvinists had to go into the elections in support 
of the Democrats to offset the Unitarian influence, and 
that the Democratic governor did later say he believed in 
the doctrine of election.* Although both the other col- 
leges had received charters and state aid, and were giving 
religious education of a more or less sectarian character, Am- 
herst was refused even a charter, doubtless because it was 
then believed that to confer a charter made it a public insti- 
tution and placed the state under obligation to render it 
financial assistance. Denominational and college rivalries 
rather than the development of new principles of the re- 
lation of the state to religious education accounted for the 
refusal. 

When the second petition was under consideration in 
1823, the opposition came from Williams College, itself 
a Calvinistic institution, on the ground that Williams would 
continue its important aid to literature and religion, and 
a third college would cause too great a drain on the public 
funds if the present colleges received what they needed.** 
At this time it appears that Harvard was not objecting 
and that there was some local opposition at Amherst.*?® 
The Senate debate showed no Unitarian opposition and in 

110 Petition of the Founders and Proprietors of Amherst Institution, 
presented June 5, 1823 (Boston, 1825). 

111 Humphrey, Sermon at Dedication of College Chapel. 

112 H, R. Doc. 130, 1849. 

113 Bush, pp. 250-258. 

114 Memorial of the Trustees of Williams College, Dec. 24, 1823. 

115 Comments on the Memorial from Willtams College. 


136 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


fact a Unitarian, the Hon. Mr. Leland, argued that the 
orthodox Congregationalists and Baptists would be ag- 
grieved and that the refusal last year had made many 
friends for them, and that they were entitled to the institu- 
tion. No objection appeared in the debates on religious 
grounds, while several speakers referred to the advantage 
it would be to religion and piety. The Hon. Mr. Fiske 
asserted that if it were refused, people would say: 

“You incorporate theaters; you have incorporated an 
association for the cure of horses; have you more regard 
for horses than for human souls? You have incorporated 
a riding school; you incorporate hotels; instance, the one 
at Nahant. Are you more accommodating to bacchanalian 
institutions, than to such as are designed to promote the 
great interests of literature, science, and religion? ” 1*° 

But the matter was postponed in the House of Repre- 
sentatives by the appointment of a committee to investigate 
the affairs of the institution. This committee sat for two 
weeks at Amherst and listened to counsel for Williams 
College and investigated particularly the financial back- 
ing. The most of the opposition was from Williams and the 
committee believed it best for the two to unite, but that 
such action was impossible then. They reported a bill for 
incorporation, with a proviso that Williams might join 
within seven years.‘17 In consequence of this report a 
charter was granted in 1825, providing for a corporation 
not to exceed 17, of whom five were to be the choice always 
of the legislature; ten members of the corporation were 
to be laymen; no religious test was ever to be required 
of instructors or students; and the General Court might 
alter the charter or oppoint overseers.**® 

The institution had the same natural theology, moral 
philosophy, compulsory church and chapel as other institu- 
tions. When in 1827 a new course was adopted by the 


116 Substance of a Discussion in the Senate, Jan. 21, 1824. 
117 Report of Committee, Amherst Coll. Insti. 
118 Jaws, 1824, chap. 84. 


State Encouragement of Religious Education 137 


Board of Trustees as a future goal, it provided for classical 
and scientific courses, a modern language course, a depart- 
ment of the science and art of teaching, and a department 
of theoretical and practical mechanics. But theology was 
to be common to the old and new courses."*° A comparison 
of the curricula of Amherst and Williams in 1826 shows 
that the two colleges taught very similar religious and 
theological courses. Both required the Greek Testament 
for admission. At Williams sophomores used Blair’s Lec- 
tures and the Greek Testament ; juniors used Paley’s Evi- 
dences of Revealed Religion; and seniors Paley’s Natural 
Theology, Leslie’s Letters on Deism, Paley’s Moral Philos- 
ophy, and Vincent on the Catechism.*° Juniors at Amherst 
used Paley’s Natural Theology and Evidences of Chris- 
tianity; while seniors had theological lectures by the 
President during the year, in addition to Butler’s Analogy 
and Paley’s Moral Philosophy.’*+ The character of most 
of these books is apparent from the title or from descrip- 
tions previously given. It might be added that Butler’s 
Analogy was written by a Protestant Episcopal clergyman, 
and attempted to derive natural and revealed religion from 
the constitution of nature. It discussed such topics as the 
future life, the government of God, moral discipline, 
Christianity, mediation and redemption, and particularly 
aimed to present the evidence for Christianity.’*” 

In order to show how far the state supported the work of 
these colleges, which were giving a religious type of educa- 
tion, the following tabulation, estimated in part, is 
presented.?”* 


119 Two Reports on the Faculty of Amherst College, to the Board 
of Trustees (Amherst, 1827), pp. I0-I5. 

120 Catalogue, 1826, pp. 17-20. 

121 Catalogue, 1826 (Amherst, 1826). 

122 Joseph Butler, The Analogy of Religion Natural and Revealed 
to the Constitution and Course of Nature (3d Am. ed., Hartford, 1819). 

123 The general sources are: H. R. Doc. 26, 1832; H. R. Doc. 28, 
3027; Laws, 1813, chap. 150. For Williams, H. R. Doc. 112, 1848. 
The estimated value of the land grants in Maine was a rough estimate 


138 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


GRANTS AND APPROPRIATIONS TO COLLEGES, 1780-1837 


HARVARD 
Lottery 42704) AUtHOTIZE AGE Win laccielshe1 tbe sete ated eee ol $ 8,000 
Lottery + 1S00, ,AULHOrIZed VTOP tia osu c code eich ech nner tae 30,000 
Income: irom | ferry, vestimatedy «wie tee vee pute ee ake eateaae 34,200 
BANK LAX TSTA—TO QA NR Aaa Me eI CONN A A Wee ga te 100,000 
$172,200 
WILLIAMS 
Appropriations, 1793, £1,200, estimated ..............+: $ 4,000 
Lottery i yael ding ici ors) Wain Acai fe a ne as ea a 3,459.68 
Maine land grants, estimated 1832 value .............. 68,448 
Bankiitax, VTS PALO Aa ons eeeins Gua wartulle ecsreatatans Ge) cae ae taney 30,000 
$105,907.68 
BOWDOIN 
Maine land grant, estimated 1832 value .............. $276,672 
Bans tax, itSt4 282 Ae lec eeencn ee isabel when a eet amen 30,000 
$306,672 
AMHERST 
None 


Harvard received no land grants during the period, but 
had received land in the colonial period. By the time 
Amherst was eligible, the policy of giving land had changed, 
as we have seen in the case of the academies. The bank 
tax was on the Massachusetts Bank and in the title of the 


made in 1832 by the Land Office, aiming to include the unearned in- 
crement at the date, but far higher than the sums ever received by the 
colleges. The Harvard lotteries were granted by Acts, 1794, chap. 1, and 
Laws, 805, chap. 115. The income to Harvard from transportation 
over the Charles River was based on the grant of the ferry in 1640. 
Upon the incorporation of the Charles River Bridge Company and 
their authorization to bridge the river, they were made to pay £200 
annually in satisfaction of the injury to the ferry rights of the college, 
for forty years, and thereafter the bridge was to belong to the Com- 
monwealth and it would assume a reasonable indemnity. It is impossible 
to determine in dollar value the exact amount of these payments. 
The charter is given in Mass. Special Laws, I, p. 93. Later the Pro- 
prietors of the Warren Bridge had to share the above payment, by 
Laws, 1827, chap. 127. Aiter the Commonwealth took over the bridge, 
a lump sum settlement of back payment was made and an annuity of 
$666.66 provided, by Resolves, 1847, chap. 98. 


State Encouragement of Religious Education 139 


act was said to be “for the encouragement of literature, 
piety and morality, and the useful arts and sciences.” It 
was specified that one fourth of the proceeds should be 
devoted to the partial or total reduction of tuition of 
students who applied. Thus in a sense it was the fore- 
runner of later state scholarships.'*4 

The refusals to grant were as instructive as the grants. 
When Amherst petitioned in 1827, because of its debt, and 
need for a chapel, and a desire to establish scientific courses 
and teacher training, the committee reported it would 
be better if Amherst and Williams could unite, but that 
the institutions should be cherished despite ‘“ recent col- 
lisions.” But Amherst was given leave to withdraw be- 
cause of the present state of finances of the Common- 
wealth.'*° Despite favorable committee reports in 1827 
and 1831, and the reporting of resolves for appropriations 
in 1831 and 1832, the legislature refused to make an ap- 
propriation.'*® Resolves for both Williams??? and Am- 
herst *°* failed to secure favorable action in 1837, though 
the committee pleaded that Amherst should have justice 
after her “‘ formal and guarded adoption into the family 
of literary institutions” and that Massachusetts should 
send out men with the religion, customs, and habits of 
Massachusetts to accompany her native exports of ice and 
granite. In the following year the committee lamented that 
“the sons of Hampshire, who have been no niggards of 
their means to forward the glorious cause of literature, 
piety, and virtue, are now shut out from receiving their share 
of the public favor,” although the college was teaching 
pious and moral principles and training Christian min- 
isters;1° 

The history of the relation of the state to colleges until 
1837 shows that financial support was given until 1825, 
after which as in the case of academies the policy changed 

124 Laws, 1813, chap. 150. 127 Sen. Doc. 39, 1837. 


125 Sen. Doc. 15, sess. 2, 1826-27. 128 Sen. Doc. 37, 1837. 
120 R. Doc.) 11,1832: 129 H. R. Doc. 45, 1838. 


140 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


in favor of the common schools. During this period Har- 
vard became less sectarian through changes in the spirit 
and content of its work and the attempts to make ministers 
of all denominations eligible to the Board of Overseers 
indicates a growing tendency to depart from sectarianism. 
But the Unitarian control fostered the development of 
Williams and Amherst, where the spirit and curricula were 
more orthodox. Thus both Harvard and Williams, secta- 
rian controlled institutions, received state aid. The pro- 
hibition of religious tests in Amherst marks a desire to 
avoid a religious exclusiveness which had never been suc- 
cessfully introduced in Massachusetts, although there had 
been attempts to impose a test in Harvard. It was coinci- 
dent in time with the sectarian book law, but was not in- 
tended to prevent sectarian teaching. The refusal to grant 
money to Amherst was dictated partly by prejudice and 
partly by a policy preferring the common schools. It was 
not due to an objection to aiding sectarian instruction, 
as Wesleyan Academy received a grant at the same time. 
Hence we may say that throughout the period the state 
acted on the principle that it should give reasonable sup- 
port to institutions where religion was taught, even though 
there was sectarian control and teaching. 

Though the theological institutions were in some cases 
connected with institutions receiving state aid or super- 
vision, practically the only state interest was with reference 
to their incorporation and the matter of religious tests. 
No financial aid was given for purposes of theological 
education. In 1819 the Theological School was organized 
in Harvard by grouping four previous professorships.'*° 
Funds were secured by an organization which in 1826 re- 
ceived a charter as The Society for the Promotion of Theo- 
logical Education, which retained for Harvard a partial 
management of the funds and regulations of the theological 
institution. The charter further provided: 

‘“ , .. that no assent to the peculiarities of any denomi- 

130 Quincy, II, pp. 311-312. 


State Encouragement of Religious Education 141 


nation of Christians be required, either of the instructors 
or students in said institution, and that no discouragement 
be in any manner or form given therein to the serious, im- 
partial, and unbiased investigation of Christian truth.” 1** 
We have seen that the Andover theological institution 
started as a Calvinistic offshoot from Phillips Academy. 
Meantime a slightly different theological school known as 
Hopkinsians started a fund for theological education, 
and in 1808 the latter joined the Calvinistic school at 
Andover as associated founders,’*? but prescribing a creed 
to be subscribed to by every professor. It was judicially 
determined that Phillips Academy could collect these as- 
sociated foundation subscriptions and legacies.°* When 
in 1814 Phillips Academy was authorized to hold a larger 
endowment for the theological institution, it was provided 
that no student should be denied its privileges because he 
differed from its creed.1°* No mention of a religious test 
was made in the incorporation of the Baptist Newton 
Theological Institution on February 22, 1826.'*° 


131 Jaws, 1825, chap. 67. 
132 Walker, pp. 347-354- 
133 Trustees of Phillips Academy v. King, 12 Mass. 549-552. 
134 Laws, 1813, chap. 125. 
135 Laws, 1825, chap. 96. 


CHAPTER VII 


THE COMPLETE ELIMINATION OF SECTARIAN 
PUBLIC EDUCATION, 1837-1855 


THE period under consideration was the one in which the 
subject of religious education in the public schools was 
attracting more attention than at any other time, not only in 
Massachusetts, but also in other states, especially New 
York. During this period in Massachusetts the fundamental 
principles were worked out which have since been applied, 
though not to the satisfaction of all. The complete elimina- 
tion of sectarian instruction from publicly supported common 
schools was due to the development of an efficient system 
of secular schools by the state, the increase in types of 
religious faith professed by the citizens of Massachusetts, 
the influence of deistic and Unitarian ideas upon the school 
system, and indirectly but most decisively the sudden 
increase in the Roman Catholic population. 

The new legislation for a more efficient system of com- 
mon schools was the natural fruition of the growth stimu- 
lated a decade earlier by James G. Carter. The financial 
basis of the structure had been laid in the creation of the 
Massachusetts School Fund in 1834. A further step was 
the statute passed April 12, 1837, authorizing district schools 
to tax to maintain a library. Nothing was specified in re- 
gard to the purchase of books of a religious character,’ but 
the purchase of sectarian books was already prohibited by 
the law of 1827. In 1842 state aid to the extent of $15 was 
given to every school district annually, provided it raised 
an equal amount.? 

The movement for state supervision of education was 
brought forcibly to the attention of the General Court in 
1 Acts, 1837, chap. 147; 2 ACS, \lod2 Chap. (VAs secmee 
142 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 143 


February, 1836, by a memorial of the American Institute 
of Instruction, asking the appointment of a superintendent 
of common schools. This document emphasized the value 
of the common schools for character formation and citizen- 
ship training, rather than the old religious aims. It main- 
tained that such an official could aid the schools by means 
of improving teachers; by providing training for teaching; 
by information on the position, construction, and furniture 
of schools; by ways and means of encouraging schools; by 
comparisons with European systems; by recommendations 
for adaptation of the schools to agriculture and manufactur- 
ing; and by training in morality to offset crime.’ This 
shows that the aim was secular rather than religious. As 
a result a bill was reported for the creation of such an 
office, in preference to a project for a seminary for teacher 
training. But it was not until April 20, 1737, that the 
project was accomplished in the creation of the Board of 
Education, made up of eight persons in addition to the 
Governor and Lieutenant-Governor ex-officio. The Board 
was to make an annual abstract of the school returns and 
appoint a Secretary at an annual salary not to exceed the 
munificent sum of $1,000, whose authority was limited to 
collecting and diffusing information. The Board could 
make recommendations.® In the selection of the original 
Board religious views were an important consideration, and 
political affiliations were a secondary matter. Governor 
_Everett was a Whig Unitarian clergyman and graduate of 
Harvard; George Hull served ex-officio as Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor; Edmund Dwight was a wealthy Unitarian financier 
greatly interested in the establishment of Normal Schools; 
Jared Sparks was formerly a Unitarian minister and later 
President of Harvard; Rev. Emerson Davis and Rev. 
Thomas Robbins were active orthodox Congregational 
clergymen and graduates of Williams; E. A. Newton of 


ON io) DE se 7, he 30: 
2. AR e.Do0e’ $4,028 30% 
S| Acts, 1837,-chap?, 247% 


144 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


Pittsfield was an active Protestant Episcopalian layman; 
Robert Rantoul Jr. was selected as a Democratic member 
of the legislature, and James G. Carter and George Putnam 
as Whig members. In the last three cases religion played 
no part, but the appointment of Carter was also a worthy 
recognition of his untiring efforts for a better school system. 
He had drafted and reported as chairman of the committee 
the bill for the State Board. While equality appeared to 
be shown in the strictly religious appointments, the net 
result was that a majority of the Board was Unitarian, 
but became orthodox through subsequent resignations and 
appointments.® While the original Board did not represent 
the religious population of the state, it doubtless represented 
the interest in education. 

At the first meeting of the Board of Education in Boston 
on June 28, 1837, Horace Mann, a Unitarian lawyer and 
then President of the Senate, was chosen Secretary, and he 
speedily became the directing mind of the system.’ Born 
to strict Calvinism, he had broken away to the Unitarian 
belief and carried with him a detestation of much of the 
old system. Though a Whig in politics, he was a radical 
by temperament in the espousal of new humanitarian issues, 
and had a strong sense of popular sovereignty. His 
serious moral earnestness and facility in penning volu- 
minous defenses of what he believed to be the truth, coupled 
with a combative and highstrung temperament, made him 
the storm center in Massachusetts religion and education 
for a few years and tended to obscure his really great 
services to education. Education, especially moral educa- 
tion, became his great passion.® 

Before proceeding to the controversial work in which 


6 Appleton’s Encyclopaedia of American Biography; rst Annual Re- 
port of the Bd. of Ed., 1838, p. 17; Horace Mann in The Christian 
Register, June 22, 1844, p. 95. 

7 Christian Review, V. 1840, p. 396. 

8 Martin, Evolution etc., pp. 157-185; William H. Burnham in School 
and Society, Sept. 3, 1921, p. 110. 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 145 


Mann engaged, it is necessary to have some idea of what 
beliefs were then current as to the part religion should 
play in the public schools. In his Jnaugural as President 
of Amherst in 1823, President Humphrey undoubtedly 
voiced the popular attitude as follows: 

“Let any system of education, which leaves out God 
and the scriptures, prevail in your families, schools, and 
colleges, and what would be the consequences? How long 
would you have any domestic circles to love, or to live in? 
How long would children reverence their parents, or listen 
to the voice of their teachers? The truth is, moral habits 
and religious sanctions, cannot be dispensed with... . 
And let that system of religious education which is begun 
in the family, be carried into the primary school, from 
thence into the academy, and up to the public seminary.” ® 

But President Humphrey had no idea of giving the re- 
ligious education entirely over to the state, for in speaking 
in Philadelphia in 1831 before the American Sunday School 
Union, he placed the duty first on the parents, and said 
the Union was necessary because parents neglected their 
duty. The only union of church and state which the 
friends of Sabbath Schools desired or would permit was 
that union which made every patriot a Christian and every 
Christian a patriot.1° It is further interesting to note that 
President Humphrey took a position similar to the present 
Catholic one of parental rights, holding that the father was 
the ruler of his household, accountable only to God; that 
the state might interfere only in case of extreme neglect 
or abuse; and that the parent might send the children to 
school for a part of their education if he considered it to 
their advantage."? 

A review published in 1836 insisted on the right and 


9 Heman Humphrey, Miscellaneous Discourses and Reviews (Amherst, 
1834), Dp. 223-255. 

10 Tbid., pp. 113-136. 

11 Heman Humphrey, Domestic Education (Amherst, 1840), pp. 
16, 18. 


146 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


obligation of every teacher in the public schools to instruct 
children in the fear of God, and that every one would “ re- 
ceive hereafter according to the deeds done in the body,” 
whether freethinkers liked it or not.’” 

One of the first activities of Mann as Secretary of the 
Board was the holding of county conventions, in which he 
first expressed his views and became better acquainted with 
the situation. A lecture which he delivered to these bodies 
bore a distinctly religious tone. He spoke of the child as 
created in the image of God and said the voice of Nature 
forbade the infliction of pain or discomfort during study. 
He favored school libraries, but not books favoring the 
views of a sect or party. He believed that children when 
they grew up would adopt right opinions so far as it was 
possible if teachers would follow this injunction: 

‘“ Strengthen the intellect of children, by exercise upon the 
objects and laws of Nature; train their feelings to habits 
of order, industry, temperance, justice; to the love of man, 
because of his wants, and to the love of God, because of his 
universally acknowledged perfections; .. .” 

The above well illustrates the point of view which Mann 
was destined to champion ardently during his relation to 
the Massachusetts school system. His emphasis on Nature 
with a capital indicates his attraction toward deism; there 
was nothing which went beyond the tenets of Unitarianism ; 
but it was a moral education definitely related to religious 
education, and Mann never desired to exclude religious 
education in this sense from the schools. 

In his first Annual Report Mann again emphasized moral 
instruction, on the basis of the 1789 statute, and because 
the statute of 1827 had in practice excluded all religious 
books “ to prevent the school from being converted into 
an engine of religious proselytism; to debar successive 
teachers in the same school, from successively inculcating 
hostile religious creeds, until the children in their simple- 


12 The Christian Witness and Church Advocate, Jan. 3, 1845, p. 184. 
13 Mann, Lectures on Education, pp. 11-35. 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 147 


mindedness should be alienated, not from creeds, but from 
religion itself.” He deplored the fact only three books in 
use in six schools taught ethics and natural religion.’* 
Horace Mann had now replaced the conscience of the school 
committeeman in the enforcement of the sectarian book 
law. 

That the Calvinists were watchful against a possible 
attempt to make the schools teach Unitarianism rather 
than orthodoxy soon developed in connection with the ap- 
plication of the sectarian book law to school libraries. 
F, A. Packard of the American Sunday School Union of 
Philadelphia had prepared a Select Library for Common 
Schools and had written to Governor Everett about its 
introduction into Massachusetts schools. Everett and 
Mann decided that it was sectarian and unsuitable for 
the purpose and so informed the agent in Boston. Then 
Mr. Packard sent directly to Mann The Child at Home, 
which had been used in the schools of Geneseo, New York.*® 
On March 18, 1838, Mann replied that the book would not 
be tolerated in Massachusetts; that it would particularly 
offend over roo societies of Universalists, whose clergy were 
ereatly interested in the schools; that it emphasized too 
much the idea of future retribution; and that he would 
rather see the whole system abolished than have such a book 
introduced.*® 

To secure the introduction of a different type of school 
library books, without arousing a sectarian jealousy which 
he felt was hampering the application of the law of 1837, 
Mann on March 27, 1838, submitted to the Board a plan 
for a Common School Library free from political and parti- 
san views. To secure this end, the approval of every mem- 
ber of the Board to all books included was required. Mann 
believed it was well to enlarge the narrow views of those 
having slight contact with the world, especially in matters 

14 yst Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1838, pp. 58-65. 


18 Packard to Mann, July 9, 1838. 
16 Mann to Packard, Mar. 18, 1838. 


148 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


of religion and science.17 This proposition caused the only 
sectarian difference in the Board, and the resignation of 
E. A. Newton, the Episcopalian, who wanted doctrinal re- 
ligion taught. He was the only member who stood for 
this, and resigned because unanimous approval of all books 
was required, to exclude such books from the Library.%® 

But Mr. Packard persisted in the attempt to have some 
of his books introduced and at a personal interview in 
Boston Mann gave him a letter he had previously written 
without mailing, stating that a speller submitted was in- 
eligible because it taught the doctrine of future rewards 
and punishments and the doctrine of special providence. 
He also stated that revealed religion could not be safely 
connected with a system of public instruction. ' From 
Boston Mr. Packard journeyed to New Bedford, where the 
Congregational clergy were in session as the General As- 
sociation of Massachusetts. In the course of a speech there 
he waved the letter and said: 

“Tf this class of opinions is to prevail at the Board of 
Education, it becomes ministers of the gospel and Chris- 
tian people throughout the Commonwealth to see to it.” 

Rev. Mr. Robbins of the Board was present and said they 
had only agreed not to recommend any book without the 
concurrence of all; 1° Mann demanded the return of the 
letter, and an explanation of the reputed statement that the 
Board would recommend books for schools that were anti- 
evangelical.*° In a subsequent letter Mann thus stated his 
attitude: 

“The great idea is, that those parts of doctrine, or 
faith, upon which good, and great men differ, shall not be 
obtruded into this neutral ground of ‘ The Schools.’ The 
children of men of all denominations attend the school 


17 Mann, Lectures on Education, pp. 269-302. 

18 The Christian Register, June 22, 1844, p. 95; The Christian Witness 
and Church Advocate, March 29, 1844, p. 21. 

19 Packard to Mann, July 9, 1838. 

20 Mann to Packard, July 5, 1838. 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 149 


together. If one man claimed to have his peculiar doctrines 
taught, why not another? Why not all? until you would 
have a Babel of creeds in the same school, which a Heathen 
would be ashamed of.” 7? 

In his second Report Mann alluded to the fact that no 
religious or moral instruction was given in the schools, be- 
Cause committees could not find books on the doctrines of 
revealed religion which were free from the tenets of par- 
ticular sects. But he added: 

“ Of course, I shall not be here understood, as referring 
to the Scriptures, as it is well known, that they are used 
in almost all the schools, either as a devotional or as a 
reading book.” 2” 

Mann’s purpose here was to expose a lack of moral and 
religious instruction which he deplored, and not to try to 
exclude books which were within the law. But Mr. Packard 
had addressed an anonymous pamphlet to Dr. Humphrey, 
and out of this a misunderstanding of Mann’s real purpose 
developed which vexed him for years. The first attack 
was a series of articles in the Boston Recorder, by Mr. 
Storrs of Braintree, which from the orthodox point of view 
charged that Mann was trying to oust the Bible and re- 
ligion from the common schools. Mann conferred with 
Louis Dwight and Mr. Miller, the editor, and then wrote to 
Storrs, explaining that the Board had no direct or indirect 
authority over school books, and that before the Packard 
pamphlet was published they had provided for Bible reading 
in the Normal Schools.*° 

But this organ of orthodoxy maintained a guarded posi- 
tion of watchfulness, and while complimenting the Board 
and Secretary, suggested using ministerial associations, 
church conferences, social prayer meetings, the periodical 
press, and the pulpit in developing sentiment for the new 
movement, and insisted that “the grand doctrines of the 


21 Mann to Packard, July 22, 1838. 
22 2d Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1838, p. 78. 
23 Mann to Mr. Storrs of Braintree. 


150 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


Gospel must be regularly and clearly taught.” *4 After 
perusing his Report, the Recorder commended much of it, 
but wished he had referred to teaching natural depravity, 
transformation by the renewing of the Holy Spirit, and 
secret prayer. It believed public sentiment demanded edu- 
cation under the control of a manly piety which considered 
life a preparation to fit for singing with the seraphims or 
wailing with the devil and his angels. For the cordial 
cooperation of a great portion of the people it believed the 
Bible must be taught in the schools, insisting on the great 
facts of man’s moral ‘ruin, his need of a Redeemer, of re- 
generation, and sanctification.*® A correspondent suggested 
a sort of local option in the districts, teaching Universalism 
or the Assembly’s Shorter Catechism according to the will 
of the majority. In regard to the sectarian book law, this 
correspondent wrote: 

“Tf their object was to exclude books which teach the 
leading doctrines of Protestantism; or, to be more definite, 
the leading doctrines held by the Pilgrim Fathers of New 
England; or, to be more definite still, the prominent truths 
embraced by the evangelical churches of Massachusetts, 
then it is no matter how soon the law is repealed.” °° 

In the third Annual Report Mann gave a detailed state- 
ment of the status of the School Library. With the ap- 
proval of the Board the firm of Marsh, Capen, Lyon, and 
Webb had published ten volumes. It was merely to guide 
the districts in their choices and did not in any way re- 
strict their liberty. The schools should teach the religious 
views of Christian faith common to all, and there was no 
danger that the School Library would turn out to be “a 
sinister effect, either positive or negative, in reference to 
religious instruction.” The Board was applying the sec- 
tarian book law to libraries, but was not excluding books 
in which “ scientific research is made subservient to the 


24 Boston Recorder, Jan. 18, 18309. 
25 [bid., Mar. 22, 18309. 
26 Ibid., Mar. 1, 1830. 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 151 


establishment and illustration of moral and religious truth.” 
A school committee could still put in theological books 
without interference from the Board, but the latter regarded 
such action as inexpedient and illegal. Among the books 
of the School Library were Paley’s Natural Theology and 
Duncan’s Sacred Philosophy of the Seasons. Much of the 
report was devoted to a stinging criticism of the romantic 
trashy stuff found in most of the libraries of the state, be- 
cause pernicious reading separated emotional feeling from 
action.” 

The content of these two books is sufficient evidence 
that there was absolutely no desire to exclude religious 
material. The Natural Theology was a book commonly 
used in colleges and academies of a strictly orthodox char- 
acter, and has been previously described as developing from . 
the analogy of Nature the personality and attributes of 
the Deity.2* The second volume was a sort of encyclo- 
paedic array of natural knowledge, of a religious character 
and tendency, illustrating the perfections of God in the 
phenomena of the year. It was the product of a Scotch 
evangelical divine, but the American editor had adapted it 
to American readers by eliminating some parts which might 
offend different religious denominations. It referred to the 
Supreme Intelligence, and the Great Designer, and was 
intended to teach a love of Nature.*® 

All the above was entirely in accord with Mann’s princi- 
ples as otherwise expressed. In his lectures before the 
county conventions of teachers in 1840, he said: 

‘And, finally, by the term education, I mean such a 
culture of our moral affections and religious susceptibilities, 
as, in the course of Nature and Providence, shall lead to a 
subjection or conformity of all our appetites, propensities 
and sentiments to the will of Heaven.” *° ; 

27 3d Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1839, pp. 12-17, 47-82. 

28 Supra, p. 143. 

29 Henry Duncan, Sacred Philosophy of the Seasons, F. W. P. Green- 


wood, Am. ed., 4v. (Boston, 1839). 
30 Mann, Lectures on Education, p. 118. 


152 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


In his propaganda publication he quoted an extract from 
the Congregationalist Horace Bushnell as follows: 

“Education without religion, is education without virtue. 
Religion without education, or apart from it, is a cold, 
unpaternal principle, dying without propagation. ... The 
great point with all Christians must be, to secure the Bible 
in its proper place. To this as a sacred duty all sectarian 
aims must be sacrificed. Nothing is more certain, than that 
no such thing as a sectarian religion is to find a place in our 
schools. It must be enough to find a place for the Bible 
as a book of principles, as containing the true standards 
of character, and the best motives and aids to virtue.” ** 

The Normal Schools afforded a second point of attack 
against the activities of the Board of Education. One 
reason for this was that they entered a field which had 
previously been worked by the academies and there was a 
natural jealousy; parsimonious citizens thought of the 
extra expense; and religious zealots saw a design to re- 
make the school system through the training of teachers in 
educational attitudes and methods which would favor the 
Unitarian system of thought. On April 19, 1838, the Gen- 
eral Court accepted the gift of $10,000 from Edmund 
Dwight and appropriated an equal sum for use “ in qualify- 
ing teachers for the Common Schools in Massachusetts.” *? 
Although many academies applied to be designated as 
Normal Schools, the Board on December 28, 1838, decided 
on the Lexington Normal for women and Barre Normal for 
both sexes. Shortly afterward a course of study of from 
one to three years was provided, including ethics and the 
principles of Christianity.2* These schools were under the 
direct control of the Board as other schools were not. 

The growing hostility to the new system being developed 
under the efficient leadership of Mann suddenly came to 
action, when on March 3, 1840, the House ordered the 

31 Massachusetts Common School Journal, II, Feb. 1840, pp. 57-60. 


82 Resolves, 1838, chap. 70. 
83 Christian Review, 1840, pp. 405-4109. 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 153 


committee on education to consider the expediency of abol- 
ishing the Board of Education and the Normal Schools.** 
Four days later with only a few hours previous notice to 
a minority of the committee, the majority reported a bill 
to abolish both and attempted to force it through without 
debate.*® The reasons alleged for this action were: a Prus- 
sian centralized system which interfered with the principles 
of local control in American schools; the obvious difficulty 
of a central board attempting to introduce theological and 
religious subjects by one fixed plan in a country where 
sectarian views differed; the questionable policy of the 
state usurping the function of the parent in molding the 
political, moral, and religious opinions of his children; 
particularly the violation of the above by the School 
Library; the skepticism which would be worse than sec- 
tarianism if an impossible and undesirable attempt were 
made to keep the school free of sectarianism. The com- 
mittee would leave the matter to local school committees. 
As a matter of fact, it then rested there, as the work of 
the Board was only advisory. The committee recommended 
the abolition of the Normal Schools, because the academies 
and high schools did the work without expense to the 
Commonwealth.*® 

Later a minority report in defense of the Board and the 
Library was filed. It characterized the Natural Theology 
as one of the soundest treatises ever written, of such a 
character that no one could tell whether the author was 
orthodox or heterodox, churchman or dissenter; it stated 
that the 1827 statute required piety but forbade sectarian- 
ism, and that the majority of the committee seemed to 
believed this impossible.** Hon. J. A. Shaw, one of the 
minority members, pointed out that no book could be 
published by recommendation of the Board, except with 


nee it Doc. 49; 1840. 

85 Barnard, American Journal of Education, V, p. 638. 

86 H. R. Doc. 49, 1840. 

37 Massachusetts Common School Journal, II, 1840, pp. 230-234. 


154 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


the approval of members of both political parties and of 
four denominations of Christians.** The result was that 
the attempt to thwart progress in the schools of Massa- 
chusetts failed. 

The point at issue in the religious controversy was not 
whether the schools of Massachusetts should teach religion ; 
no one entered the controversy to oppose that, and least of 
all Horace Mann.*® But it was a question as to whether 
sectarianism should be taught; and once the attempt was 
made to exclude that, each man followed his own definition. 
Here lay the difficulty in teaching religion of an unsectarian 
character. Whatever was taught, from the point of view 
of some one it was sure to be sectarian. 

For several years after the attempted abolition of the 
Board there was less acrimonious dispute, and it is possible 
to understand some of the calmer views of the denomina- 
tional leaders. The Christian Review was at this time 
edited by Barnas Sears, a Baptist and subsequently Secre- 
tary of the Board. He favored the compulsory education 
of all to a certain extent, with the state paying where 
parents were too poor. The sectarian book law practically 
prohibited religious ideas in schools, but he believed lessons 


38 Ibid., pp. 240-246. 

39 Before the county conventions in 1842 Mann said: “ In fine, that 
the sublime idea of a generous and universal education, as the appointed 
means, in the hands of Providence, for restoring mankind to a greater 
similitude to their Divine Origin, is but just dawning on the public 
mind.” — Lectures on Education, pp. 215-268. In a Fourth of July 
Oration before the Boston city authorities in 1842 Mann repeated 
his fundamental position: ‘“‘ The lives of great and good men should 
have been held up for admiration and example; and especially the 
life and character of Jesus Christ, as the sublimest pattern of be- 
nevolence, of purity, of self-sacrifice, ever exhibited to mortals. In 
every course of studies, all the practical parts of the Gospel should have 
been sacredly included; and all dogmatical theology and sectarianism 
sacredly excluded. In no school should the Bible have been opened 
to reveal the sword of polemic, but to unloose the dove of peace.” 
— An Oration delivered before the Authorities of the City of Boston, 
July 4, 1842. 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 155 


of morality and religion were an indispensable part of the 
education of a Christian people. But because of Sabbath 
School instruction, only ‘elementary and mechanical” re- 
ligious instruction was necessary in common schools. He 
preferred district to state control because of the danger 
that one sect might gain control, and while respecting the 
Board, he feared centralization and preferred to train 
teachers in academies. About all the institutions above 
common schools were under sectarian control, even if not 
sectarian in teaching. But he favored state aid to all of 
these, even if they should prove the means of spreading 
unsound religious principles. Religious liberty and the 
diversity of sects made exclusive legislative control im- 
possible in higher education.*° This statement is significant 
as a failure of the Baptists to carry to its logical conclusion 
the principle of separation of church and state enunciated 
by Roger Williams, and also showing that a future Secre- 
tary was definitely committed to state support of even 
sectarian instruction. 

Objection to a centralized system which might mold the 
hearts of children as it would and interfere with the God- 
given parental authority was voiced by the school com- 
mittee of Grafton in its report. 

It will be recalled that the American Institute of Instruc- 
tion had been instrumental in the establishment of the 
Board of Education, and therefore the lectures delivered 
before it by prominent men deserve attention as indications 
of current thought. That the question began to shift to the 
use of the Bible itself is indicated by the addresses. Presi- 
dent Humphrey of Amherst, who became a member of the 
Board of Education, insisted on the education of the heart 
and conscience as well as the intellect; and because all did 
not get it in home or church, he scored those who would 
banish religion from the public schools. He believed re- 


40 The Christian Review, VI, 22-29. 
41 Report of the School Committee of the Town of Grafton, 1841, 
pars! 


156 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


ligion possible without sectarianism. ‘“ There are,” said he, 
“certain great moral and religious principles, in which all 
denominations are agreed, such as the ten commandments, 
our Savior’s golden rule, everything, in short, which lies 
within the whole range of duty to God and duty to our 
fellow men. ... Verily, if this is what any mean by 
sectarianism, then the more we have of it in our common 
schools the better.” He believed no instructors should be 
employed not able and willing to teach morality and re- 
ligion without making Episcopalians, Baptists, Presbyte- 
rians, or Methodists. “He advised daily Bible reading and 
prayer in schools, but would not insist upon it because 
teachers were not qualified. The sectarian book prohibi- 
tion was probably necessary, but at any rate natural and 
revealed religion should be included in books and where 
ail were of one faith, they should have the right to use any 
book they pleased. The Bible did not contain sectarian 
creeds and it must not be excluded from the schools.** 
Thus this eminent leader of the orthodox Congregationalists 
was taking a position differing from Mann only very 
slightly in favor of sectarian teaching where there was no 
local objection. 

Similarly Professor Stowe of Cincinnati insisted on the 
necessity of religious instruction, and its possibility without 
violating the rights of conscience. He admitted the right 
of parental control but believed that if judiciously given, it 
would practically never be exercised. This was his formula: 

‘rt, There must be excited in the community generally 
a wholehearted honesty and enlightened sincerity in the 
cause of education. 2. The Bible, the whole Bible, and 
nothing but the Bible, without note or comment, must 
be taken as the text-book of religious instruction. 3. In- 
struction in those points which divide the sects from each 
other, must be confined to the family and the Sunday 
school.” 


42 Lectures Delivered before the American Institute of Instruction, 
1843 (Boston, 1844), pp. I-30. 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 157 


In the application of these rules he would let Catholics 
recite from the Douay version and Jews from the Old 
Testament if they desired it; and would excuse them from 
the Bible recitation if they demanded it.* 

Coming fresh from the controversy with the Catholics in 
New York, Hiram Ketcham, a Presbyterian lawyer of New 
York, took, in a speech before the American Bible Society, 
a more advanced position. He stated that it was a funda- 
mental principle that in America the government had no 
right to tax for the support of the Christian religion, but 
that it should be voluntarily supported. But in drawing 
his application of it to the schools he was not wholly 
logical, for he said: 

“Tt follows of necessity that these schools, maintained by 
a tax raised by the state, are not nurseries for instruction 
in religion. It is acknowledged in them; it is recognized 
by them. But the peculiar doctrines of any one sect must 
not be taught in schools supported by any monies raised 
by a tax on the people.” ** 

The expression of these views shows how the struggle 
changed from one between different Protestant sects for 
the teaching of their distinctive doctrines to a united op-. 
position to the teaching of Roman Catholic doctrines with 
public money. But the latter phase came later in Massa- 
chusetts than in New York. The Catholic population was 
naturally larger in Boston, but for 1845 the estimated 
religious population of the city was: Baptist, 10,500; 
Catholic, 30,000; Episcopalian, 6,000; Methodist, 8,000; 
Orthodox Congregationalist, 14,500; Unitarian, 18,000; 
Universalist, 6,000; Unclassified, 6,000; Residue, 15,366. 
While the Catholics had less than the two largest Protestant 
groups, records of baptisms showed half of the births in the 
city were of Catholic parents.*®° This and the potato famine 

43 Calvin E. Stowe, The Religious Element in Education (Boston, 
1844), Pp. I-34. 

44 The Common School Controversy (Boston, 1844), p. 51. 


45 Report to the Committee of the City Council, Census of Boston, 
1845, pp. 123-125. 


158 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


were destined soon to disturb the whole Massachusetts 
system. 

In 1842-1843 Horace Mann was in Europe studying 
foreign systems of education and when legislation was 
passed appropriating for school district libraries, full 
liberty was given the districts in choosing the books. The 
report of the committee reporting the bill stated it was not 
the policy to give to any departments of the government 
control over the sentiments of the young through a dictated 
course of reading.*® 

Upon the return of Mann, he wrote his seventh Annual 
Report, which proved a storm center upon general peda- 
gogical principles as well as religious education. He de- 
scribed the systems of religious education in vogue abroad, 
and characterized them as mainly political, to get the blind 
submission of the subjects. He preferred the Massachusetts 
system of inculcating “ the perfect morality of the Gospel ” 
while permitting personal liberty of individual belief.*7 His 
comparison of Boston methods and discipline with Prus- 
sian piqued the Boston masters and led to their attack on 
Mann, which did not concern religious education origi- 
nally,** until Mann in reply asked them how they unfolded 
to the young ‘“ the wisdom and goodness of God, as ex- 
hibited in all parts of the material universe; ”’ and what 
instruction they gave in Bible history, in which the Prus- 
sians excelled. Mann also traced the recurrent opposition 
to him to his refusal to recommend the books submitted 
by Packard and thus linked the religious controversy with 
that of the schoolmasters.*® The Rejoinder avoided the 
religious issue, but subsequent discussion turned partly on 
the scriptural basis for corporal punishment.°® Still the 

SE FOR DOC na 3/1643, 

47 7th Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1843, pp. 170-186. 

48 Remarks on the Seventh Annual Report (Boston, 1844). 

9 Horace Mann, Reply to the Remarks (Boston, 1844); pp. 92-03, 
168. 


50 Rejoinder to the Reply (Boston, 1845); Reports of the Annual 
Visiting Committees, Doc. No. 26, 1845. 


tee 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 159 


attack of the Boston masters added fresh fuel to flames of 
religious zeal.°t While the Baptist organ, The Christian 
Watchman, remained neutral though differing from some 
of the views of Mann,°? the issue of sectarian instruction 
was Clearly joined by E. A. Newton, the Episcopalian mem- 
ber of the Board who had resigned on that issue, in the 
columns of the Christian Witness and Church Advocate, 
the organ of the Episcopalians. 

The occasion for the position of Newton was afforded 
by the Girard Case argued by Daniel Webster before the 
United States Supreme Court, in which the latter said it 
was impossible to separate religion and morality, as Girard 
had tried to do in excluding all religion from the institution 
he had created. He asserted that by lopping off the 
branches of sectarianism, Girard had laid the axe to the 
root of Christianity itself; consequently his system had to 
be based on Paine’s Age of Reason or Volney’s Views of 
Religion. Newton anonymously asked how this system 
differed from that of the Board of Education and its 
Secretary.°** This position was made more specific in the 
editorial columns of the paper two weeks later, when it was 
maintained that when “ papists”’ were admitted to the 
Board, on the principle of rejecting books to which any 
member was opposed, the Bible must be excepted; and it 
specifically objected to the exclusion of the doctrine of 
grace from the schools.** 

To a person of the temperament of Horace Mann it was 
impossible not to accept the challenge thus thrown down. 
But the controversy which ensued should be understood 
to be due to a point of view held by few other than 
Episcopalians, who could not divorce their thinking from 
the established system of religious education in England. 


51 Geo. B. Emerson, Observations on a Pamphlet entitled Remarks, 


52 The Christian Watchman, Dec. 20, 1844. 
53 The Christian Witness and Church Advocate, Feb. 23, 1844, p. 3. 
54 Ibid., Mar. 8, 1844, p. Io. 


160 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


The nearest they came to support by the religious press 
was an article in the Christian Reflector, a Baptist publi- 
cation, which subsequently repudiated the course of the 
Witness.°> The article referred to included the following: 

“To us, it seems that the present system of our Board 
of Education differs mone too much to say the least, from 
the system of Mr. Girard. There is such a hue and cry 
kept up, at this day, by all the enemies of true religion 
about sectarianism that good men need to be on their 
guard, lest there be an infringement on rights more sacred 
than sect. Is it not true that many of our teachers dare 
not, or do not venture to give any religious instruction 
whatever; that they never come nearer to it than the 
simplest principles of morality.” °° 

Mann met the attack by a courteous letter to the editor 
of the Witness, in which he made a frank statement of the 
actual situation. He pointed out the Catholics as well as 
orthodox held to the doctrine of grace, but that the 
Episcopalians only wanted their own doctrines. He ap- 
proved the teaching of Christianity in the schools, contend- 
ing that the moral instruction law of 1789 included much 
of it, that the sectarian book law implied that Christian 
books should be introduced, and that he and the Board 
would teach the golden rule and other great precepts of 
the Bible, while he had characterized the works of Volney 
and Paine as moral venom. He asserted that there was at 
that moment more Bible reading and thirty-fold more 
moral and religious instruction than 30 years before, but 
not as much as there ought to be. The Shakers were the 
only sect that had actually seceded from the common school 
system, and while the Episcopalians had to some extent op- 
posed him, he had not opposed them. He was only aiding 
the Board in administering the constitution and laws as they 
found them, and was trying to impart as much religious 
instruction as was compatible with the private rights of 


55 The Common School Controversy, p. 55. 
at LaLTe PM wal aye rebel yp 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 161 


conscience. Neither he nor the Board had ever tried to 
get the Bible out of the schools.°*’ 

The Witness published the letter and with it an editorial 
which made it clearer that its one purpose was to have 
taught in the schools such doctrines of orthodoxy as salva- 
tion by the death and sacrifice of Jesus. Here arose the 
difficulty of defining sectarian. The Witness maintained 
that the fathers would never have considered the above 
sectarian, and that was undoubtedly true; and with con- 
siderable truth held that what Mann would teach was sec- 
tarian, and that the Catholics would soon object to the 
Bible as sectarian.°® The full import of what some meant 
by the sectarianism of Mann was later frankly stated by 
a Boston correspondent, who charged that the drift if not 
the design of the Board of Education was to substitute 
Deism and Naturalism for Christianity, because the Sec- 
retary admitted the things common to Deism and Chris- 
tianity and denied the things peculiar to Christianity. If 
the districts were not permitted to decide their own teach- 
ing, there would result a church and state union on deistic 
principles.*® 

As the editor of the Witness refused to publish a second 
letter from Mann, he secured publicity through the Boston 
Courier, saying that the difference between his views and 
those of the editor were a matter of life and death to the 
common schools. He showed that the orthodox Congrega- 
tionalists had not opposed the passage of the sectarian 
book law in 1827, or its reénactment in 1831, and that a 
new law creating an established system of religion would 
be necessary to carry out the wishes of the Witness. The 
present teaching could not be sectarian because the editor 
said it was good so far as it went, and only those things 
were sectarian to which somebody objected.*° Mann was 


57 The Christian Witness and Church Advocate, March 29, 1844. 
58 [bid. 

59 Ibid., May 17, 1844, p. 40. 

60 The Common School Controversy, pp. 18-21. 


162 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


supported by an anonymous writer in the Boston Courter, 
who taunted the Episcopalians with aping the Church of 
England, which opposed equal privileges to all sects in the 
English schools, and who said the Congregationalists, 
Methodists, and Presbyterians of Massachusetts would not 
support the Episcopalian attempt to assume superiority ; 
by the Westfield NewsLetter of Western Massachusetts, 
which called the Witness article “ unjust and illiberal; ” ° 
and by the Salem Observer, which was “surprised and 
pained.” ® 

On May 17, 1844, Newton submitted a signed article to 
the Witness in which he said he did not intend to charge 
Mann and the Board were disciples of Paine, but showed 
that his real animus was against the Unitarians. He 
claimed that the orthodox Congregationalists, Baptists, 
Episcopalians, and Methodists had not opposed sectarian 
instruction until the Unitarian group arose, and that the 
1827 enactment was not much thought of until the Board 
of Education was created. They had so interpreted the law 
as to exclude everything “ vital and distinctive in the Chris- 
tian scheme, as held by orthodox denominations,” ‘the 
catechism, and the explaining and teaching of Scriptures. 
The plan on which the School Library was operated would 
exclude most of the writings of Luther, Calvin, Cranmer, 
Knox, Wesley, and Fuller. The result of the Common 
School Journal, the Annual Reports, and the Normal 
Schools would be to make these principles effective and the 
Unitarians would become sovereign, and only natural re- 
ligion could be taught. He hoped the Board would be 
abolished.** 

A chorus of opposition met this statement of views. The 
Bay State Democrat said Newton was a born Englishman, 
unfitted to execute liberal laws, who acted as if “the 


61 Tbid., pp. 32-38. 

82 Ibid., pp. 38, 39. 

63 Jbid., p. 41. 

64 The Christian Witness and Church Advocate, May 17, 1844, p. 51. 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 163 


Church of England was prior to creation; and that creation 
had only to conform to the requisitions of its Bishops to be 
just right.” °° The Trumpet or Universalist Magazine ob- 
jected to teaching hell torments and total depravity; °° the 
Boston Evening Gazette accused the Witness of being ig- 
norant of the principles of public education or of desiring 
to perpetuate aristocracy by thwarting enlightenment.*’ 
A Boston lawyer in the Boston Daily Advertiser and 
Patriot said even the Episcopalians in Boston gave “ distinct 
disapprobation ” to the Newton attack, and explained that 
under the law school committees and not the Board had 
authority to direct what books should be used; he asserted 
that Newton wanted to warp the law to permit sectarian- 
ism, and that he could not see Christendom broader than 
his own platform of faith.°* Hon. Alfred D. Foster of 
Worcester, an orthodox Congregational member of the 
Board of Education, said that if Newton were right the 
common schools would become the battleground of warring 
sects. He approved of teaching orthodoxy in the schools 
only when all agreed to it. He would not compel others 
to Calvinistic truth, saying “Times change and men 
change with them.” °° The Christian Register, Unitarian, 
naturally supported Mann and objected to drilling children 
in the bigotry of Calvinism. It claimed that Newton’s 
position really implied that the essential doctrines of the 
Gospel could not be learned from reading the Bible. It 
protested against one sect requiring the Bible to be ac- 
companied by a commentary and a creed.” 

A reply was also made by Mann through the Courier. 
He asserted that the Massachusetts system differed from 
the Girard system because there clergymen were excluded 
while in Massachusetts clergymen on school committees 

85 The Common School Controversy, pp. 41, 42. 
OST OIC EDL SAN SS: 

ST bid Sopa As, 44: 

$8. Ibid. pp. 52, 53. 

689 The Christian Register, June 15, 1844, p. QI. 
70 Ibid., p. 94. 


164 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


visited the schools, and he interpreted the piety and benevo- 
lence required by the moral instruction law as “love to 
God and love to man.” To the charge that the Board 
excluded the catechism and merely permitted the reading 
of the Bible, he replied that they had never dictated or 
suggested the way it should be read and in the Normal 
Schools had only required it to be read daily. The third 
Annual Report was intended to refute the claim that the 
Board was a Unitarian movement, and satisfied all except 
those who, like Newton, wished to use the schools to pros- 
elyte in, in defiance of law. It would be impossible for 
each individual to force his creed into the schools, for 
there were 300 organized anti-orthodox societies in Massa- 
chusetts. .He said Newton’s spirit was that of Henry VIII, 
without his power, and enunciated this as the Massachusetts 
spirit : 

“The principle of our law and of the Board of Education 
acting under it, is, that school money shall be raised from 
all, that the school shall be open to all without any religious 
test, that when children are assembled at school, every- 
thing of a moral or religious nature which does not invade 
the rights of individual conscience, — the sublime precepts 
of the Gospel, the life and character of Jesus Christ, the 
love of God, and of man for his wants, — shall be sedulously 
inculcated; but that polemical theology, distinguishing 
points of creeds or faith, shall be left to other times, places, 
and teachers.” * 

The sectarian purpose of some was now even more baldly 
stated by “I. W.” in the columns of the Christian Witness. 
He argued that the doctrines of the fall, vicarious sacrifice, 
justification by faith, and the trinity were held by Baptists, 
Congregationalists, Methodists, Romanists, and Episco- 
palians and were not sectarian; but that the teaching then 
given was Unitarian and therefore sectarian. He objected 
to the School Library because it taught an expurgated 
Christianity, equally satisfactory to the Greek, Jew, deist, 

71 The Christian Register, June 22, 1844, p. 95. 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 165 


or to Islam. He believed the majority of orthodox had a 
right to demand the teaching of their views.” 

- The above position in favor of sectarian instruction ap- 
pears to have had the support of practically only Episco- 
palians and not of all members of that group. The people 
of Massachusetts then wanted religious instruction in school, 
but they did not want sectarian instruction. The only 
apparent support for sectarian instruction was Baptist, 
and such a position was so foreign to the genius of Baptist 
institutions that it is improbable that there was any real 
support. We have seen that the Christian Reflector 
finally disassociated itself from Newton’s policy. It is true 
that the State Baptist Sunday School Convention adopted 
a resolution calling for more Sabbath school instruction on 
the doctrines of the Gospel on which salvation depended, be- 
cause of the deficiency in the religious education provided 
by law.’ If there were Baptists who wished to oppose 
the teaching merely of moral precepts and natural religion, 
they certainly did not get the resolution so worded that 
that was the primary purpose. The resolution merely ac- 
cepted the law as Mann interpreted and threw the burden 
of sectarian instruction on the church. And that was the 
natural Baptist position, which was well expressed by 
“R. W.” in the Baptist Christian Watchman. He charac- 
terized the alarm because only natural religion, without the 
doctrine of grace, was being taught, as worse than useless, 
and tending to destroy the public school system. The 
following excerpts state clearly the Baptist theory: 

“For the sake of the integrity and purity of the church 
of Christ itself, do we deprecate that the teachers of the 
common schools be allowed to teach the doctrines of 
grace. ... In the second place, for the sake of those ends 
for which the common schools are instituted, we deprecate 
that the school teachers be chosen with reference to their 

72 The Christian Witness and Church Advocate, July 12, 1844, 


pp. 82, 83. 
73 Tbid., July 26, 1844, p. 90. 


166 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


orthodoxy in religion. . . . Society cannot become society, 
until so much of spiritual life is abroad as makes natural 
religion. The state, therefore, as a state, ought to require. 
of its servants, in the discharge of their civil duties, a 
recognition of all this... .. The state educates its citizens 
for itself, but not for the church of Christ. Christ takes 
care of that for himself. This is the fundamental principle 
of the Baptist organization.” 

After the controversy with Newton had proved that 
public opinion supported the elimination of sectarian in- 
struction, the controversial war ceased for a few years and 
meantime Mann tried definitely to encourage non-sectarian 
religious education in the public schools. In the eighth 
Annual Report he gave the results of an investigation into 
the use of the Bible in the schools. He found that in 
258 of 308 towns and cities of the Commonwealth the 
Bible was the regular reading book. In 38 more it was 
used as a reading book or in devotional exercises. There 
were no answers from nine, but in only three was it found 
that it was not used at all. One of the latter replied that 
the style and phraseology was too difficult for children and 
the Bible was “of a nature higher and holier.’ Mann 
interpreted the results as showing that Massachusetts was 
as deeply imbued with Christianity as any part of Chris- 
tendom.”* The Board in its Report advocated the “ fre- 
quent and careful perusal of the Sacred Scriptures, in our 
schools; ” it directed the daily use in the Normal Schools 
under its direct control; it believed it was used in all 
academies ; and it regretted that an unsectarian book which 
was the “ textbook of faith” of all Christian sects was not 
in use in every institution of learning in the home of the 
Puritans. It interpreted the term principles of piety of the 
law as meaning the principles of the Christian religion, and 
believed the Bible necessary for this. School committees 
had authority to prescribe the books, and direct the manner 


74 The Christian Watchman, Nov. 22, 1844; Nov. 29; Dec. 13. 
75 8th Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1844, pp. 75, 76. 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 167 


and amount of religious instruction; while the church, 
Sabbath School, and family did their part, there was a 
definite need for religious instruction for those who would 
otherwise be “ active in error, fertile in crime.” For this 
religious education in the schools popular opinion, not 
legislation was needed.*® Doubtless the change to an 
orthodox majority in the Board was tending to make them 
more emphatic on the need of an unsectarian religious edu- 
cation in the schools. 

In the succeeding years Mann emphasized more and more 
the necessity of moral education, which he believed was too 
much neglected. Intellect was rising and virtue falling; 
practical Christianity was not keeping pace with material 
improvements. He claimed that the Board had been di- 
rectly and indirectly promoting religious instruction and. 
that religion was the principle foundation of moral action.” 
He believed that the field of morality was less cultivated 
than that of knowledge or of faith. It was partially cor- 
rect to say that religion comprised the relation of man to 
his Maker, and morality the relation of man to man. 
Because the church taught more religion, and many chil- 
dren did not get even this, the school must teach morals.”® 
On the other hand, he believed that God could not be really 
known except by scientific knowledge of his creations, using 
the microscope and telescope; hence the promotion of edu- 
cation promoted religion.”® 

Mann also recommended that the clergy frequently visit 
the schools, as one of their parochial duties. The original 
tutelary relation of the clergy to the schools of New 
England had never been dissolved. While the once half- 
papal authority had now been altered, visiting the school 
was a means by which the ministers could make up for this 
and ingratiate themselves with the children. In addressing 


76 Tbid., pp. 15-18. 

77 oth Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1845, pp. 64-76, 157. 
78 Massachusetts Common School Journal, VII, 1845, Intro. 
78 Tbid., VIII, 1846, Intro. 


168 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


the children at school, he would be doing a part of his 
own work, for all the preceptive parts of the Gospel 
belonged as appropriately in the schoolroom as in the 
pulpit.*° 

In October, 1846, Mann had to defend himself and the 
Board in a new controversy much more acrimonious and per- 
sonal, and less important to us because based more on 
personal matters and false charges as to facts, than the 
more dignified debate with Newton, which really covered 
an essential point which it was well to clear up. The 
difficulty started when the Rev. Matthew Hale Smith, a 
Universalist who had turned to orthodoxy, used the op- 
portunity of addressing a body of Sunday School workers 
in Boston, at a public mass meeting, to preach a sermon 
entitled The Ark of God on a New Cart in the course of 
which he brought sensational charges against the morality 
of the public schools of Boston and charged that the Board 
of Education was trying to get the Bible out of the common 
schools of the state, to get all religious instruction out, 
to remove all restraints from the depraved passions of 
scholars, and by anti-religious or non-religious instruction 
to neutralize the instruction of pious parents and Sunday 
School teachers. He also objected to heresy in the books 
furnished the young.*t William B. Fowle, publisher of the 
Massachusetts Common School Journal, under the signature 
of “ Tremont,” published a letter in the Boston Courter, 
characterizing the Smith sermon as “ impudence and igno- 
rance.” He said only “ Romanists”’ would take the Bible 
out of the schools, and showed that the Board had a 
majority of orthodox members at that time. Governor 
Briggs was a Baptist; Sears was a Baptist, head of the 
Newton Theological Institution; Humphrey and Hooker 
were orthodox Congregationalists; James was an Episco- 
palian and Chapin an Universalist. He said the Board was 
supporting the Bible and religious education so far as it 


80 Horace Mann, Life and Works (Boston, 1801), V, pp. 234-245. 
81 Sequel to the So Called Correspondence (Boston, 1847), p. 3 ff. 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 169 


could and the School Library did not teach universal 
salvation.*? 

In his Jnaugural of 1847 the Baptist governor supported 
his Secretary of the Board of Education and religious 
education in these words: 

‘“ Justice to a faithful public officer leads me to say, that 
the indefatigable and accomplished Secretary of the Board 
of Education has performed, and is performing, services in 
the cause of common schools, which will earn for him the 
lasting gratitude of the generation to which he belongs... . 
That legislature, or that people, which shall do the most 
to advance this cause of civilization, patriotism, and Chris- 
tianity, may expect, what is far more desirable than the 
loudest and longest applause that ever burst from an excited 
multitude, the blessing of God, and the blessing of the. 
poor? * 

Early in January Smith published a pamphlet, The Bzbdle, 
the Rod, and Religion in Common Schools, which was 
freely circulated among members of the General Court. 
It contained little new, except an attempt to prove the 
Common School Journal sectarian because of a quotation 
containing the statement that almost all children were 
as pure as Eve was, a slip which had been objected to by 
Heman Humphrey and which Mann had disavowed.** The 
Boston Recorder was supporting Smith and claimed that 
Mann occupied the ground of those who believe in Christi- 
anity in general but disbelieve it in particular, that to them 
all was sectarian but the ideas of “ Universalists, pious 
deists, and theophilanthropists.” It would mean the es- 
tablishment of Universalism and deism.** If the Board did 
not appoint a man of evangelical sentiments it would be 
better to abolish the Board. It preferred teaching no re- 
ligion to the above system, or would let each district de- 


82. The Boston Courier, Oct. 27, 1846. 

83 Acts and Resolves, 1846-1848, pp. 576-578. 

84 Sequel to the So Called Correspondence, pp. 10-13. 
85 The Boston Recorder, Jan. 14, 1847, p. 6. 


170 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


cide.** A correspondent asked why there was a Unitarian 
Secretary when three fourths of the schools were orthodox, 
and why teachers from Normal Schools were told not to 
have the Bible read in their schools, or if so, only selected 
portions.*? The Unitarian Register pointed out that Mann 
was supported by an orthodox governor and Board and 
believed the majority of the orthodox would keep sectarian- 
ism out of the schools and politics.6*5 Rev. Emerson Davis, 
one of the original orthodox Congregational members of the 
Board, wrote a letter which the Recorder declined to pub- 
lish, stating he did not believe the Board or the Secretary 
was trying to undermine the faith of the orthodox.*® 
Mann’s reply to Smith was given in the form of a 
pamphlet entitled Sequel to the So Called Correspondence. 
With reference to the use of the Bible he showed Smith had 
changed his position, and now merely claimed that Mann 
did not believe in some parts of the Bible and thought 
some parts not suitable for school reading, an omission 
which would destroy the saving power of the Bible. Mann’s 
reply was that half the school committeemen of Massachu- 
setts were clergymen, but they agreed in prescribing the 
Bible as a text, though they preached it differently in their 
pulpits. He intimated that Smith came under Paley’s defini- 
tion of a lie, by creating a false impression from his use 
of facts. Mann had always reverently read the Scriptures 
at the morning sessions of the teachers’ meetings, and 
when he said he did not approve of reading parts in it, 
he referred to passages which were interpolations. Still 
he did not believe it proper to read the Song of Solomon 
in a mixed audience. As to the charge he was trying to 
get religion out of the schools, he showed neither he nor 
the Board could prescribe the subjects taught, and branded 


86 Ibid. 

87 Ibid., Feb. 25, 1847, p. 30. 

8 The Christian Register, Mar. 6, 1847, p. 38. 

® Horace Mann, Letter to the Rev. M. H. Smith (Boston, 1847), 
Dunst 


ow a 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 17% 


the charge as false by vigorously denouncing any attempt 
to get it out.°° Replying to charges about the church 
attendance of pupils at West Newton Normal, he said the 
official visitors gave a favorable view of the church at- 
tendance, and remarked that the beneficiaries of the state 
Should properly observe the Sabbath.*" 

Turning to the question of sectarian instruction, Mann 
asserted that ninety-nine one hundredths of all the opposi- 
tion they had ever encountered was due to abstaining from 
a recommendation of sectarian instruction. He showed 
how the Congregational Recorder and the Episcopalian 
Witness had published articles in favor of it and how 
orthodox committees had locally introduced sectarian 
books, while the orthodox Methodists and Baptists re- 
fused to demand sectarian instruction. If sectarian instruc- 
tion were introduced, discussions of total depravity and the 
trinity would make all depraved and atheists; committee 
elections would be fought on the basis of creed; schools 
would have to change their creed from year to year; it 
was inconsistent to deny a choice of creeds to the state 
and allow it to the towns; liberals were now debarred 
from attacking orthodox views as much as they were de- 
barred from defending them; while he personally believed 
in a future state of rewards and punishments, a portion of 
the Unitarians and the Universalists did not, and therefore 
the doctrine could not be taught; the teaching of total de- 
pravity was not a part of the principles of piety, and if 
any thought otherwise, they should take it into the courts; 


90 Sequel to the So Called Correspondence, pp. 13-31. He referred 
to the elimination of religious instruction in these terms: 

“T regard hostility to religion in our schools, as the greatest crime 
which I could commit against man or against God. Had I the power, 
I would sooner repeat the massacre of Herod, than I would keep back 
religion from the young. ... What religion, then, shall be inculcated 
upon the young, in our public schools? I answer,—not my religion, 
nor yours, as such, nor the religion of any class or sect,— but the 
religion of the Bible. If your religion can be found in the Bible, then 
your religion is taught in the schools.” 

91 Tbid., pp. 31-33. 


172 © Religious Education in Massachusetts 


apportionment of the school fund could not depend on the 
character of religious instruction.” 

Charges that The Sacred Philosophy of the Seasons in 
the School Library taught Universalism were untrue be- 
cause the author was a Scotch evangelical divine, it was 
approved by Governor Briggs, two orthodox Congregational 
clergymen, and by Joseph W. Ingraham, an Episcopalian, 
who read the proofs; and besides the Board had consid- 
ered dropping it because it taught the opposite of Uni- 
versalist belief, according to objections made by that 
Seciy: 

The Boston Courier editorially supported Mann and ad- 
vised him not to mistake grasshoppers for beeves, calling 
Smith sincere, but wrong in his inferences and visionary. 
It insisted it was not right to teach a minority the doctrine 
of salvation by atoning blood.°** 

In reply to a subsequent pamphlet ®° by Mann that Smith 
shifted his ground and did not retract his charges, and pre- 
senting letters supporting Mann, Smith availed himself of 
the friendly columns of the Boston Recorder.°® Here the 
debate shifted to very personal matters where principles 
were not involved, as to Mr. Smith visiting a bowling 
saloon and reproving his parishioners for similar conduct ; 
and as to young women taking the part of men and appear- 
ing in trousers in a play at the West Newton Normal. He 
also objected because Principal Pierce was a Parkerite, and 
students washed and ironed on Sunday instead of going 
to church; and after regulations by the Board of Education, 
and the students resolved to do as they pleased, he com- 
promised on requiring them to go half the day. Pierce 
denied that the tableau was indelicate, that the Sabbath 
was a gala day, and claimed over 30 of the pupils were from 


92 Ibid., pp. 37-50. 

93 Tbid., pp. 50-57. 

94 The Boston Courier, Mar. 18, 1847. 

95 Mann, Letter to the Rev. M. H. Smith. 
96 The Boston Recorder, May 6, 1847, p. 71. 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 173 


orthodox families.°* Subsequent letters of each added little 
but repeated charges and denials.°® 

A year later Pierce asserted that the real reason for 
opposition was that it was not under orthodox administra- 
tion, that all pupils did not attend the orthodox church, 
and that total depravity was not taught. He showed that 
all pupils were required to be provided always with a Bible, 
that the principal read it every morning at opening ex- 
ercises, and that pupils read in it daily.® 

At about this time the New Englander, a rather liberal 
undenominational religious periodical of New Haven, pub- 
lished an article by a prominent member of the Board of 
Education of Massachusetts giving the history of the school 
controversies of the last decade. It laid the root of the 
agitation to the pamphlet Packard had addressed to Dr: 
Humphrey which was unjustified by the facts but to which 
Mann and the Board did not reply. In this he had claimed 
that they considered that religious teaching was entirely 
excluded by law from the public schools of Massachusetts, 
and would substitute a system of natural religion. The 
same charge had been used in the attempted abolition of the 
Board in 1840, by the Episcopalians in 1844, and again in 
1846-1847. It stated that neither the Secretary nor the 
Board would exclude the Bible if they could, nor could 
if they would. Their general course was approved as of 
great benefit to the rising generation.1° This was a fair 
statement of the case and refrained from mentioning the 
fact that much of the opposition was doubtless due to a 
denominational jealousy of the Unitarians. But the con- 
troversy had made clear that all parties favored some re- 
ligious education in the public schools, though they could 
not agree on the exact type. 

But the Recorder still insisted that no defense had been 


97 Tbid.. May 27, 1847, p. 83. 

98 Ibid.; June 3,.1847; June 17, 1847. 

99 The Christian Register, July 8, 1848, p. 110. 
100 The New Englander, Oct. 1847, pp. 513-522. 


174 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


made against the charges that “he is foisting in a tran- 
scendental scheme of deistical morality”? and interdicting 
‘all the distinguishing sentiments of the Bible as to sin 
_and redemption.” +°!. And this impossibility of meeting on 
the same ground was due to the impossibility of defining 
sectarianism. 

The West Newton Normal matter received attention in 
the next Annual Report. The report of the visitors of the 
institution characterized as groundless the charges made 
that the principal was teaching heterodox principles and 
lessening the reverence of the pupils for Holy Writ, and as 
an attempt to deprive the school of the confidence of an in- 
fluential class of the population.‘ The Board itself ex- 
plained that they were not attempting to prescribe the 
system of religious instruction or books, but that the 
teachers according to the regulations were obliged to in- 
culcate ‘the principles of piety and morality common to 
all sects of Christians.” There was daily Scripture reading, 
daily devotional exercises, and church attendance on the 
Sabbath was enjoined.'® 

To all of this the Recorder replied that the charges had 
not been fairly met; that Mann had not denied that he 
did not believe in the inspiration of the canonical Scrip- 
tures; that the Board did not come to the accusers for the 
evidence; that Pierce was a Unitarian Parkerite and the 
graduates unfit for common schools; and that Bible morality 
was preferred to transcendental nonsense and infidelity.‘ 

Mann had by now withdrawn from further controversy 
and was engaged in pushing his own conception of moral 
education. During 1847 he submitted, to teachers whom 
he considered qualified to answer, a questionnaire asking 
how many children would be irreclaimable under the best 
conditions of the New England systems of education. He 


101 The Boston Recorder, Nov. 18, 1847, p. 182. 

102 rrth Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., pp. 10-12. 
AOS WT Od SDD Gage 

104 The Boston Recorder, Feb. 18, 1848. 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 175 


selected teachers who believed in the depravity of the natu- 
ral heart, but not all from Massachusetts.'°° The answer 
of Solomon Adams of Boston was typical. He did not see 
how different theological views could alter the modes of 
instruction. A physical, intellectual, and moral training 
by faithful Christian teachers was needed, emphasizing 
training rather than conversion. All sects must meet on the 
common ground of reverence for the word of God, love of 
God, and love of man.*°® Mann summed up the replies as 
indicating a belief that the common schools could expel 99 
per cent of the vice and crime. For this would be necessary 
the cardinal principles of the New England systems, teach- 
ers of high intelligence and moral qualifications, and the 
attendance of all 4-16 for ten months annually. Among 
these cardinal principles he included his system of non- 
sectarian religious instruction with the use of the Bible.'°’ 

In its report for this year the Board also took occasion 
to make clear that despite insinuations to the contrary, it 
was not known that any member of the Board was not 
disposed to recommend the daily reading of the Bible, 
devotional exercises, and the constant inculcation of the 


105 rrth Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., p. 49 ff. 

106 Jbid., pp. 64-71. 

107 Tbid., pp. 85-91. A more complete statement of his idea of non- 
sectarian religious instruction was given in these words: 

“The use of the Bible in schools is not expressly enjoined by the 
law, but both its letter and its spirit are in consonance with that use; 
and, as a matter of fact, I suppose there is not, at the present time, 
a single town in the Commonwealth in whose schools it is not read. 
Whoever, therefore, believes in the Sacred Scriptures, has his belief, 
in form and in spirit, in the schools; and his children read and hear 
the words themselves which contain it. The administration of this 
law is entrusted to the local authorities in the respective towns. By 
introducing the Bible, they introduce what all its believers hold to be 
the rule of faith and practice; and although, by excluding theological 
systems of human origin, they .may exclude a peculiarity which one 
denomination believes to be true, they do but exclude what other de- 
nominations believe to be erroneous. Such is the present policy of 
our law for including what all Christians hold to be right, and for 
excluding what all, excepting some one party, hold to be wrong.” 


176 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


principles of Christian morality. The Board and Secretary 
recommended and advocated this, but local committees 
had the real control.1° 

While the Unitarian Register as usual supported the 
Report, it also received commendation from the New 
Englander, but with the reservation that it was unfair for 
Mann to send his questionnaire only to the evangelical Chris- 
tians, as if he were using his official position to ridicule them. 
It also rejoiced in the state recognition of the necessity of 
training citizens as well as the old religious reason for 
education.'?° 

It was in 1848 that the question of establishing parochial 
schools in Massachusetts as an alternative to the non- 
sectarian schools received consideration, because it was be- 
coming a national question. The Roman Catholics and the 
Episcopalians had agitated it the most. But the General 
Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, a national body, had 
passed a resolution affirming its conviction of the necessity 
of establishing primary schools by congregations..* As a 
result, there was some consideration of it in the Congrega- 
tional General Association of Massachusetts, at its meet- 
ing in Chelsea in 1848. A report was unanimously adopted, 
but it was later voted not to print it in the minutes. A 
committee was appointed to report the next year. The report 
stated that there was danger in the common schools be- 
cause if sectarianism was taken out, only natural religion 
was left. The organization of the Board of Education 
was a measure of doubtful utility, because there was no 
way to make sure an evangelical person would hold the 
office, and otherwise vital religion could not be promoted. 
The Normal Schools were likely to train those opposed to 
vital religion. It was believed that the majority wanted 
the state to leave religion to the parents and church. While 

108 [bid., pp. 9, 10. ‘ 
109 The Christian Register, Mar. 25, 1848. 


110 The New Englander, VI, 1848, pp. 207-213. 
111 [bid., pp. 230-249. 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 177 


saying that some would have parish schools for religious 
and secular education, and others would abolish the State 
Board, no definite course was recommended except a 
thorough investigation by pastors and churches.'” 

Expressing somewhat the same underlying spirit of dis- 
trust, but in milder terms, Alexander H: Vinton, rector of 
St. Paul’s Episcopal church in Boston said in his Election 
Sermon of 1848, after discussing restraint in education, that 
this restraint must be based on religion. The government 
as a religious institution should guide the development of 
the nation by instruction and restraint with prayer and 
faith. Charges of sectarianism in this were most likely to 
come from the spirit of religious indifference.’ 

These expressions are significant as showing that the 
orthodox Congregationalists and doubtless to an equal de- 
gree the Episcopalians were more anxious to have the ortho- 
dox teaching of the Gospel taught in the schools than they 
were to avoid sectarianism. They did not boldly advo- 
cate sectarian teaching, but they were not afraid of the 
term. 

The 12th Annual Report of 1848 was Mann’s last, for 
in that year he resigned to enter Congress. As if he con- 
sidered the religious education the capsheaf of his whole 
system, he devoted the last 46 pages of this report to that 
subject. Much of the material has of course been presented, 
but may conveniently be summarized here as an outline on 
Mann’s views and what was generally the practice in 
Massachusetts. 

The great ideal of morality which he envisioned was a 
“consummation of blessedness”’ attainable only by re- 
ligious education. Only an insane man would deny the 
latter to the young. In the choice of means to a religious 
education he would act religiously, and not irreligiously 
as had been for the most part true since “ the unhollowed 
union of church and state, under Constantine.” Despite 


112 The Boston Recorder, Aug. 4, 1848, p. 122. 
113 Election Sermon, H. Docs., 1848. 


178 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


the attitude of those who claimed he tried to derogate 
from the authority of the Bible and exclude religion from 
the common schools, and of those who preferred parochial 
to “irreligious and anti-Christian ” public schools, neither 
he nor the Board would have permitted the exclusion of 
the Bible and religious instruction from the schools. But 
he would have no enforcement of religion by law, which 
resulted in a legal definition and death to heretics who 
insisted on their standard of truth. This was impossible 
in Massachusetts where the constitution made all sects 
equal before the law. Therefore so far as allowed and 
prescribed by the constitution of Massachusetts, he re- 
garded religious instruction in the schools as indispensable. 
But sectarian instruction would prove the overthrow of the 
schools. He denied once more, as absolutely false, all 
accusations that he had “ever attempted to exclude re- 
ligious instruction from school, or to exclude the Bible from 
school, or to impair the force of that volume, arising out 
of itself.” 

He admitted the schools were not theological seminaries, 
but said Christian morals were inculcated and the Bible 
was allowed to speak for itself. All were taxed to support 
schools, not to promote religion, but to prevent evils; not 
to make denominational members, but to help children 
decide their religious obligations. Otherwise parents would 
have to educate their children in a private way and were 
taxed for benefits they could not enjoy. This would be 
an unchristian principle, like executing heretics. But the 
Massachusetts system was religious because strictly religious 
rights were left to the jurisdiction of the Divine govern- 
ment. It was also religious because the Bible was in the 
common schools by common consent. Before the establish- 
ment of the Board, some towns had excluded it because 
used for sectarian instruction; but as the latter ceased, the 
Bible was restored and he did not know of a town in the 
state where it was not then in use. People whose creed 
was in the Bible, found instruction in it in the schools; 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 179 


if it was not in the Bible, it was no wonder that they 
wanted instruction in it. The moral education law of 
1789 related to virtues which were “ part and parcel” of 
Christianity, and it was made the duty of ministers of 
the Gospel to bring all children within its field. 

After this discussion of the Massachusetts system, he 
examined the following other possibilities: (1) secular 
schools only; (2) teach a definite system of religion; 
(3) local option for the majority sect of a community to 
determine; (4) leave all education to private agencies. No 
one wanted the first; the second was the spirit of the Dark 
Ages, a crime against religious truth; the third would re- 
sult in a conflagration in all. districts; the fourth would 
prove impractical, would not provide education for the 
poor, and would result in ignorance and vice. So Mann 
concluded : 

“The sovereign antidote against these machinations, is, 
Free Schools for all, and the right of every parent to de- 
termine the religious education of his children.” *"* 

Corroborative testimony that the system outlined by 
Mann was then actually in operation in Massachusetts 
may be gleaned, strangely enough, from a British parlia- 
mentary Blue Book, where it composes part of a committee 
report on the Manchester and Salford Education Bill, in 
1851. It happened that the Hon. Edward Twistleton, late 
Chief Commissioner of Poor Laws in Ireland, was struck 
by the high mental caliber of the New Englanders, when 
in New England a few years before. To find out whether 
this could be due to compulsory schools, without sectarian 
instruction in religion, as was then believed necessary in 
England, he addressed a questionnaire in 1851 to some 
of the most eminent citizens of Massachusetts. The ques- 
tions asked were substantially these: 

1. Do public schools interfere with denominational 
tenets ? 

2. Do the children get the above tenets outside of school ? 


114 y2tkh Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1848, pp. 98-144. 


180 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


3. What agencies are there for the above? 

4. Do common schools indirectly promote religious sen- 
timents and morality? 

5. Do you approve or disapprove of the system? 1?® 


115 The evidence presented by Twistleton is reproduced in the ré&th 
Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1854, pp. 79-104. The answers to 
the above questions by twelve leading Massachusetts citizens are briefly 
indicated below in the order of the questions. 

Daniel Webster. 1. Denominations would prevent any attempted in- 
terference. 2. To a remarkable extent. 3. Parents, clergy, Sabbath 
school, and religious reading. 4. Yes. 5. Heartily approve. 

Edward Everett, former minister to England. 1. Fundamental princi- 
ple of the whole community that schools are not sectarian. 2, 3. Sab- 
bath school. 4. Decidedly yes. Majority of school committees fre- 
quently clergymen. 5. Theory perfect. 

George Bancroft, former minister to England. 1. All sects unite in 
the support of common schools. 2. Yes. 3. Home, Sabbath school, 
clergy. 4. Yes. More knowledge on religious subjects. 

The Right Rev. Dr. Eastburn, Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Massa- 
chusetts. 1. No interference. 2, 3. In school only Scripture reading 
and instruction incidental to regular subjects, but by teaching of clergy 
and Sabbath school outside. 4, “I think so.... It is a fact that no 
one suspected of entertaining religious sentiments would be employed as 
a teacher in the common schools.” 5. ‘‘ Although I individually should 
prefer arrangements under which the tenets of my own church were 
directly taught in the common schools, yet, on the whole, I approve of 
the present system, because it ensures the means of providing a more 
efficient system of instruction than could permanently be maintained 
for all the children of the Commonwealth in any other way.” 

Former Representative William Appleton, Episcopalian. 1. No. 2. Yes. 
3. Home, Sabbath school. 4. Teachers must be of moral and religious 
character and influence pupils. 5. Best system available. 

Former Representative R. C. Winthrop, Episcopalian. 1. No. 2. Yes. 
Schools commonly opened with daily prayer or Scripture reading. 
3. Pulpit, Sabbath school, fireside. 4. In the highest degree. 5. Unquali- 
fied approbation. 

Former Senator F. G. Gray. 1. Certainly not. 2. Yes. 3. Home, 
Sabbath school. 4. Parents demand that teachers be moral and pious. 
5. Approves. 

Former Senator G. S. Hillard, referring to Boston alone. 1. No in- 
terference, because school committee would dismiss such teachers. 2. Yes. 
3. Home, Sabbath school, clergy. 4. Yes. 5. Approves. 

William H. Prescott, the historian. 1. No. 2, 3. Home and Sabbath 
school. 4. Scriptures usually read daily. 5. Education of the great body 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 181 


The conclusions drawn by Twistleton are unimpeachable 
proof of the character of the religious education of Massa- 
chusetts schools in the middle of the nineteenth century. 
They follow: 

“First. That the New England system of free schools 
is not sectarian in its tendencies; 

Secondly. That it is not irreligious; 

Thirdly. That, indirectly, at least, if not directly, it 
is religious, in the sense of being favorable to the cultiva- 
tion of the religious sentiments and to the promotion of 
morality ; 

Fourthly. That by means of Sunday Schools, combined 
with the teaching of parents at home and instruction from 
the pulpit in church, the children of the free schools are, 
for the most part, taught the peculiar tenets of the various 
denominations to which they respectively belong; 

Fifthly. That the system of free schools in New England 
is effective in giving instruction to the children of the 
poorest classes, and is deserving of approbation.” 

While it is to be expected that Americans in describing 
their schools to Englishmen would put the best side for- 
ward, the unanimity is striking and leads to the conclusion 


of the people necessary in a republic. Here all get reverence for re- 
ligion in school, and tenets are taught elsewhere. 

Jared Sparks, President of Harvard and historian. 1. Impossible. 
2, 3. Sabbath school, tracts, home. 4. Books of moral and religious 
tendency, not sectarian. ‘‘ Nor would a teacher of known immorality 
or skeptical views in religion be allowed to have charge of a school.” 
5. Unqualified approbation. 

George Ticknor, author. 1. In no way. 2, 3. Until about 1820, 
when the Sabbath school developed, denominational instruction in 
weekly catechetical exercises and explanations of Scripture by the 
ministers. Irish and Quakers don’t go to Sabbath school, but religious 
teaching by voluntary teachers better than by the public school teachers. 
Irreligious teachers not appointed to public schools. 4. Yes. 5. Wise 
system of moral police. 

Henry W. Longfellow. 1. No. 2. Yes. 3. Fireside and Sabbath school. 
4. Yes. 5. Heartily approve. Free to all, and religious sentiments 
cherished and cultivated. 


182 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


that the demand for sectarian school teaching in the last 
decade could not have had very general support. But the 
statement of the Episcopalian head, though not mentioned 
by the Episcopal laymen, is evidence of the lingering desire 
of that church for sectarian instruction in the common 
schools. 

In the conceptions of the relation of church and state 
held at this period there was a peculiar inconsistency. A 
typical statement appeared in the Christian Observatory, 
an evangelical magazine, deploring the fact that the church 
had ever submitted to the domination of earthly kings and 
clergy had been supported by civil enactments, and re- 
joicing that there was now religious freedom in America."'® 
But according to the evidence above, there was training in 
Christian worship and indirect promotion at least in the 
schools publicly supported, of the Christian religion. It 
was in 1850 that the National Convention of Friends of 
Education, meeting in Philadelphia, called for instruction 
by the common school teacher to prevent many growing 
up in vice and irreligion. They said it was the duty of the 
state to provide for the instruction of all in morality and 
piety, the Bible should be read in all schools, and that 
children should be impressed that it was written by inspira- 
tion of God, and the model for their life.1‘7 In fact, what- 
ever might be said in a glib manner, the people of Massa- 
chusetts did not want a complete separation of church and 
state, and that situation was described by some of their 
more careful leaders. In an Election Sermon ** President 
Edward Hitchcock, of Amherst, scored the state religions 
of Turkey, Italy, Russia, and Austria, and to a less degree 
those of England and Wales. But if a democratic state 
and a democratic church encircled the world with the love 
of God and love of man as the basis of action in each, the 
situation would be different. He continued: 


116 The Christian Observatory, Oct. 1849, pp. 443-458. 
117 2rst Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1858, Abstract, p. 10. 
118 Election Sermon, H. Docs., 1850. 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 183 


“How much, in such a case, would the church differ 
from the state? Both of them would be, what I have called 
a Theocratic Democracy; and there would be but one 
government and one church in all the earth. That would be 
the perfect state of society, so much talked of and so little 
understood. ... To honor and sustain religion, diffuse 
knowledge among the people, and preserve true liberty, 
this is a policy as settled in Massachusetts as the laws of 
the Medes and Persians.” 

Again, on a similar occasion, Edward Everett Hale char- 
acterized it as a careless proposition to say that church 
and state were entirely divorced. It was true that the 
place of ecclesiastical and civil officers was distinctly de- 
fined, but one might as well say there was no intimate 
relation of the judiciary and legislature as to say it of 
church and state. Original church functions of education, 
health, and charity were now administered by the state, 
but they were still a church service. 17° 

Such views were possible so long as there was sufficient 
religious homogeneity to make possible a state activity in 
the promotion of religion which did not disturb the belief 
of anyone. But the days of content under such a system 
were already at hand with the increasing Catholic popula- 
tion. 

By the time Mann left the leadership of the educational 
system of Massachusetts, its non-sectarian system, of re- 
ligious education was so definitely fixed, that the issue 
was not a vital one to his successor. Barnas Sears was a 
Baptist, formerly editor of a religious publication, and 
the head of the Newton Theological Institution. We have 
noted previously some of his views.1*° The choice of a 
Baptist was fortunate, for it would at the same time 
satisfy the orthodox and guarantee that there would be no 
attempt to force any sectarian views. Therefore few 
changes were to be expected. 

In 1849 new rules were adopted for the Normal Schools, 

119 Election Sermon, Sen. Docs., 1859. 120 Supra, p. 2106. 


184 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


giving a general outline of the course of study. This 
course substituted moral and intellectual philosophy **! for 
the previous statement of the principles of piety and mo- 
rality common to all sects of Christians.1°? The first Report 
of Sears was a more businesslike document than those of 
Mann and did not concern religious education. Hence no 
discussion was stimulated, though the Christian Observa- 
tory took occasion to remark that much of the work of 
Mann needed to be done over again and to call attention 
to a 50 per cent increase in the students of the West Newton 
Normal after the departure of Principal Pierce.‘** This 
seems to give color to the declaration in a legislative re- 
port that if the common school system were brought under 
one denomination in religion, its usefulness would be at 
an end.'*4 | 

In his Report for 1851 Secretary Sears first discussed 
religious education. He believed that Massachusetts had 
settled the question by putting the schools under the benef- 
icent influence of religion. While the constitution and laws 
enjoined teachers to inculcate piety and Christian morals, 
love to God and love to man, the government did not regard 
religion as one of the legitimate ends of its own organiza- 
tion. Ecclesiastical bodies might propagate and maintain 
the Christian faith, while the state would employ religion 
only as a means to its own security and prosperity, and 
even then only so far as it could do so without violating 
the rights of conscience. At last a logical statement of the 
problem had been officially made. He believed that almost 
all varieties of religious groups were agreed in support of 
the law as it stood, excluding all distinctive creeds. He 
emphasized training in virtue as better than theoretical 
instruction.’*> The theory was stated according to Baptist 
principles; the practice under it could hardly vary at all 
21 13th Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1849, pp. 20, 21. 
122 roth Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., Revised, 1849, pp. 128-132. 
°3 The Christian Observatory, Mar. 1850, pp. 131-139. 
Pete DOCH tOu. LOS Ou 
125 15th Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1851, pp. 26, 27. 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 185 


from that under the statements of Mann. But Sears was 
orthodox and no longer was there a fear of a sectarian 
teaching of deism and natural religion. 

A glance at the local schools will confirm the impressions 
of the non-sectarian religious education then provided. An 
example of a refusal to permit sectarian influence occurred 
in Templeton about 1842. It was claimed that the teacher 
was improperly interfering with the religious opinions and 
feelings of the pupils, and exerting a sectarian influence 
to the neglect of the regular studies. When the teacher 
continued after a warning by the committee, the inhabitants 
availed themselves of the old expedient and stopped the 
school. The committee agreed that a school should be 
stopped if necessary to prevent such practices.?® 

The Cambridge school committee in 1848 declared the 
highest purpose of education the cultivation of the moral 
and religious capacities and affections; while there was 
no direct inculcation of moral and religious truth, they 
commended the use of casual opportunities, such as hang- 
ing Scripture verses on the walls. They commended the 
Mann movement for non-sectarian religious instruction and 
hoped for new manuals “ breathing love to God and love 
to man.” ‘They recommended a school exercise of direct 
instruction in Christian morals, omitting denominational 
tenets, and teaching “a recognition of God and his attri- 
butes, and of human relations, dependence and accounta- 
bility, as taught in the Christian Scriptures.’ ‘!*7 The 
regulations for the next year provided for moral instruction 
in conformity with the law, an opening exercise of read- 
ing a portion of Scripture and reciting the Lord’s prayer, 
the teaching of the Ten Commandments for permanent 
memorization, and the use of the Bible at the discretion of 
instructors.1*8 

Newly adopted rules in Worcester in 1853 provided for 


126 Abstract of Mass. School Returns, 1843-1844. 

127 Report of the School Committee of the City of Cambridge, 1848, 
pp. 28-31. . 

128 Regulations of the Public Schools, Cambridge, 1849, pp. 8, I1, 14. 


186 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


the daily reading of the Scriptures, with a recommendation 
that this be followed by prayer by the teacher, or the Lord’s 
prayer by the school. Daily instruction in morals and 
deportment was required.1*® New Bedford made it the duty 
of the instructors to inculcate principles of truth and virtue; 
but though it required a daily reading of a portion of the 
Scriptures, it was careful to provide that in primary schools, 
not over 30 minutes should be devoted to it daily.'*° 

The Boston authorities recognized the need of better 
moral training, and believed the consquences of violation 
of the laws of God and of the land should be pointed out. 
They advised the use of incidents in the lives of Marshall, 
Washington, and others as a basis of moral instruction.*** 
Their regulations in 1855 required all schools to commence 
with a devotional exercise, with Scripture reading by the 
teacher, and recommended prayer, at least the Lord’s prayer, 
by teacher or pupils. It was also recommended that the 
Ten Commandments be repeated by the pupils at least 
once a week and instruction in morals was required.**” 

Salem made similar provisions for the opening exercise 
in 1842, suggesting that the good readers be permitted to 
read the Bible as an honor, but that no others be permitted 
to do so. All pupils were to be provided with Bibles for 
use in this devotional exercise, but the Bible was not to be 
used as a textbook.*** Roxbury also required Bible reading 
at the morning exercises.'** In 1847 it was further provided 
that the Lord’s prayer and Ten Commandments should be 
taught all and that every pupil should audibly repeat 
them.1*° 

About the middle of the century the question of the 
legality of the use of public school buildings for private 

129 Rules and Regulations, Worcester City Doc. No. 8, 1853, pp. 11-12. 

130 Rules and Regulations, New Bedford, 1844-1845, p. 13. 

1381 Annual Reports of the Public Schools, 1847, City Doc., No. 40, 
pp. 39-42. 132 Rules and Regulations, Boston, 1855, p. 24. 

133 Regulations of the Public Schools, Salem, 1842, p. 25. 


134 Regulations of the School Committee of Roxbury, 1845, p. 7. 
485 bed, /1849,) D.52s 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 187 


religious education arose in Lowell. Urgent applications 
by the Sunday Schools for the right to use them had been re- 
fused. It appears that the opening of a school by nuns led to 
a more careful investigation. The legal advice of Tappan 
Wentworth was sought and he replied that school com- 
mittees had no right to permit schoolhouses to be used for 
other than public school purposes, or make legal provision 
for a Sunday School or other school not under the super- 
vision of the school committee. The result was the adop- 
tion of a rule that rooms occupied by the public schools 
should in no case be let or used for private schools or 
other purposes.'*® 
Evidence of religious but unsectarian teaching also ap- 
pears from the subjects listed in curricula as follows: 
Lowell — Wayland’s Moral Science **" 
Cambridge — Paley’s Natural Theology *** 
Worcester — New Testament in primary and secondary 
schools 1*° 
Bible in grammar schools 
Wayland’s Moral Science 
Alexander’s Evidences of Christianity 
New Bedford — Wayland’s Moral Science **° 
Bible 
Salem — Wayland’s Moral Science 14! 
Paley’s Natural Theology 
Dick’s Christian Philosophy 
Boston — New Testament in the primary **” 
Hall’s Manual of Morals in grammar schools 
Paley’s Evidences of Christianity 
Moral Philosophy 
Natural Theology 
186 Annual Report of the School Committee, 1852, pp. 17-19. 
1387 [bid., 1846, pp. 24, 25. 
188 Regulations of the Public Schools, Cambridge, 1849, pp. 18-19. 
139 Rules and Regulations, Worcester City Doc. No. 8, 1853, pp. 19-20. 
140 Rules and Regulations, New Bedford, 1844-1845, p. 15. 


141 Regulations of the Public Schools, Salem, 1842, Table. 
142 Rules and Regulations, Boston, 1855, pp. 35, 40, 46, 48, 49. 


188 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


Unless otherwise specified, the books listed were used 
in the English departments of the high schools. It is note- 
worthy that the Greek Testament had disappeared from the 
classical departments and left them with absolutely no regu- 
lar religious instruction. The character of most of the texts 
mentioned has been previously described. Contrary to 
the indication of its title, Wayland’s Moral Science ** 
treated of natural and revealed religion, piety, prayer, 
the family, Sabbath, and government. It serves to indi- 
cate that at that day the term morality connoted much 
of religion. 

The evidence therefore all indicates that by 1855 the 
schools of Massachusetts had eliminated from public edu- 
cation all sectarian teaching, according to the meaning of 
sectarian among the Protestant sects who had existed for 
at least half a century. But this did not exclude a religious 
spirit in the schools, a morality definitely based on religion, 
a training in Christian worship with the use of the Bible 
and prayer, and some teaching of Christianity. 

This elimination had been accomplished with no con- 
stitutional change, and with no legal change since the law 
of 1827, whose interpretation was open to considerable 
doubt. At the same time the use of the Bible in devotional 
exercises had increased without any legal action. Both 
of these arrangements would undoubtedly have been per- 
manently acquiesced in, had it not been for the increase 
in the Roman Catholic population, to whom this arrange- 
ment as practiced could not be satisfactory. The Roman 
Catholic opposition in Massachusetts, but more particularly 
in other states, led to a narrowly nationalistic American 
movement, which broke up temporarily the existing party. 
and religious alignments, and united the Protestants to make 
constitutionally and legally permanent the existing status 
of public religious education in Massachusetts. 

It is therefore necessary to review briefly the Catholic 


143 Francis Wayland, The Elements of Moral Science (New York, 
1835). 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 189 


attitude toward education. That church had retained the 
medieval idea that education was a church function and a 
part of its missionary activity was naturally devoted to edu- 
cation. The earliest cases of public support of such educa- 
tion were in New Orleans, where-Gov. Bienville brought 
over Capuchin friars and Ursuline nuns to teach. When 
the United States purchased Louisiana President Jefferson 
wrote to the Ursulines reassuring them of the kindly attitude 
of the government.'*4 In New York a Catholic governor, 
Dongan, invited three Jesuits, who established a classical 
school on the King’s Farm; but his request of King James II 
that the Farm should be appropriated to its maintenance ap- 
pears to have been unsuccessful, and the Church of England 
soon had the Jesuits driven out.'*® 

Catholicism started late in Massachusetts. Until 1808 
the diocese of Baltimore covered all the United States. 
Then a diocese of Boston was created for New England, 
but there was but one church in Massachusetts, in Boston, 
with 720 parishioners. The Irish immigration began about 
1829, and in that year the first Catholic school in Massa- 
chusetts was founded, of the Ursuline order. Bishop Fen- 
wick led in the establishment in 1826 of a day school for 
girls and boys; a classical school in the Cathedral in 1829, 
from which Holy Cross developed; a school at Charlestown 
in 1829; and St. Vincent’s Orphan Asylum, 1832. It was 
also in 1829 that a canonical assembly at Baltimore adopted 
the policy of parochial schools for teaching faith and mo- 
rality along with letters.'*° 

Soon there occurred an event at Charlestown which shows 
America at its worst and could well be forgotten, except 
for the light it throws on the interpretation of later events. 
An Ursuline Convent had been established in that place, 


144 J. A. Burns, The Catholic School System in the United States. 
(New York, 1908), pp. 67, 79-81, 83. 

145 N. Y. Col. Docs., IV, p. 490; Robert Schwickerath, Jesuit Edu- 
cation (Freiburg, 1903), p. 202; Burns, p. 104. 

146 Burns, pp. 279-280, 283. 


190 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


with no public support, no charter of incorporation since 
all Catholic property was held in the name of the Bishop, and 
its only relation to the state that of the right of protection 
of person and property. More than three fourths of the 
girls were of Protestant parents, and religious teaching was 
unsectarian unless the parents assented to the use of a 
formula of faith or catechism.‘*7 The public feeling was 
inflamed by violent sermons and the story that a girl was 
detained against her will; the selectmen investigated and 
issued a document that the story was untrue; but that 
night a mob fired the place with tar while the inmates 
were within, though they escaped.*** The act by no means 
had the support of the Protestant community, for the 
Boston Transcript characterized the affair as of atrocious 
character, complimented the mayor and public on a Faneuil 
Hall mass meeting of protest, and referred to the com- 
mendable course of Bishop Fenwick.'*® Governor John 
Davis offered a reward of $500 on behalf of the Common- 
wealth for any person or persons causing the arrest and 
conviction of the offenders,®° while the legislature ex- 
pressed its “ deliberate and indignant condemnation of such 
an atrocious infraction of the laws.” 154 

For 20 years thereafter an unsuccessful attempt was 
made to secure indemnification by the state for the loss, 
on the ground that the institution was not afforded a reason- 
able protection of the laws. The repetition of the claim 
tended to inflame the religious animosities, and while ad- 
mitting the injustice of the act, the Protestants could not 
think of appropriating money to a Roman Catholic institu- 
tion even to repair damages. The Boston Recorder char- 
acterized the Roman Catholic church as a “ masterpiece of 
Satan,’ most resembling the boa constrictor. It scored the 
pseudo-liberality which gave them public school money in 
New York, would appropriate public revenues to them in 

147 The Jesuit, Aug. 23, 1834. 150 Ibid., Aug. 23, 1834. 


148 Jbid., Aug. 16, 1834. 151 Resolves, 1835, chap. 68. 
149 Tbid. 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 1.91 


Massachusetts, and discontinue prayers and hymns in the 
public schools to please them.'®? So it opposed a com- 
pensation for the burnt convent to these “ Foreign Re- 
ligionists”’ who were making “preposterous and absurd 
demands.” 1° The Baptist Watchman contended, on the 
other hand, that it was a question between citizens of the 
state, not between Protestants and Catholics. But they 
did not believe the taxpayers were willing to accept re- 
sponsibility for the burning.1*4 

In 1853 Benjamin F. Butler chanced to be tilting his 
ever active lance in behalf of the Catholics and headed an 
investigation by a legislative committee which reported 
that during the outrage the Charlestown police were supine 
and the selectmen who witnessed the event made no attempt 
to arrest the culprits, and there was therefore lack of due 
diligence. In 1835 the state had recognized a responsibility 
for a prevention of such occurrences and enacted a law 
providing a penalty for all magistrates who failed to use 
all possible means to suppress riots; as no indemnity had 
been paid, a bill for it was reported..®> This failed, and 
the next year the House refused third reading to a similar 
bill, 26—-186.1°° 

The incident by no means should be interpreted as in- 
dicating that the state was unprepared to afford protection to 
religious education of a private character made under Cath- 
olic auspices. It was rather due to negligence, and the prej- 
udices aroused prevented a compensation and made dif- 
ficult a settlement of the wider problem of the relation of 
the Catholic children to the non-sectarian education of the 
public schools. 

The most promising attempt to settle this by a spirit 
of compromise was made in Lowell. A considerable Irish 


152 The Boston Recorder, Feb. 16, 1834, p. 26. 

aPBS EDs) Ee) 9, 15435) Ds \2 2 

154 The Christian Watchman, Feb. 9, 1844, p. 22. 

159 H. Doc. 160, 1854: 

156 Journal of the House of Representatives, 1854, p. 891. 


192 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


population had congregated on the “ acre” between 1820 
and 1830, and because of the Protestant character of the 
public schools would not allow the children to attend them. 
In 1831 the “ acre” was made a district and an appropria- 
tion for a school made, but instead the Irish children had 
patronized an Irish teacher approved by the priest, so far 
as they attended.1*? Just why this district school failed or 
what the arrangements were is not clear; but the event 
called forth a most significant letter from Bishop Fenwick, 
indicating that public support of a Catholic school would be 
accepted only on the basis of the employment of Catholic 
teachers and the teaching of Catholic doctrine°* This 


157 Walsh, The Early Irish Catholic Schools of Lowell, Mass., pp. 7-8; 
Theodore Edson, An Address delivered at the opening of the Colburn 
Grammar School, in Lowell, Dec. 13, 1848, pp. 18-19; Burns, pp. 
285-286. 

158 Walsh says of the letter of the Bishop: ‘“ Clearer words to put 
forth the Catholic position have never been penned.” It may there- 
fore be taken as a statement of the present as well as past Catholic 
attitude. The letter follows. 


Boston, March 26, 1831. 
DEAR Str: 


I received a few days ago your kind communication. I see no im- 
propriety in the Catholic school in your town receiving aid from the 
school fund, especially if the Catholics of Lowell have contributed 
their portion by the payment of taxes or otherwise, toward the sup- 
port of said fund. Common justice would entitle them to something 
out of it, for the payment of their Master. But I really do not 
understand how, in this liberal country, it can be made a condition 
to their receiving anything, that they, the Catholics, shall be in that 
case debarred from having a Catholic teacher, learning out of Catholic 
books, and being taught the Catechism of the Catholic church. We 
can never accept such terms. I have no partiality for Mr. 
further than I think him a conscientious, good, moral man. As to his 
qualifications as a teacher I have not much to say. I am aware they 
are not very great, but are they not sufficient as yet for those little 
children he has the care of? However, if the good Catholics of 
Lowell have an objection to him, I shall not wish to retain him. 
But it is all important that the individual whom they may select to 
replace him be one qualified to instruct children in the principles of 
their religion, for I would not give a straw for that species of education, 
which is not accompanied with and based upon religion. I remain, 

Your obedient servant, 
B. BP. BN. 





Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 193 


of course would have violated the sectarian book law in 
a public school, and the town could not legally have ap- 
propriated for other than a town school.**® 

No real agreement on the matter was arrived at until 
1835, and meantime two parochial schools had been estab- 
lished at Chapel Hill and under St. Patrick’s Church. In 
that year the priest, Rev. Father Conelly, applied for aid 
for these from the town, and made an arrangement which 
kept the spirit of the terms made by Bishop Fenwick and 
was well within the law.1°° The Lowell regulations for 
schools then provided that teachers should continue in of- 
fice only on their merits, that the morning exercises of all 
schools should commence with Scripture reading and prayer, 
and that only such books might be used, studies pursued, 
or exercises required as were authorized by the board.** 
Under an agreement subsidiary to these rules the parochial 
schools were adopted into the town system, as reported in 
the School Report for 1836. The town requirements were 
as follows: 

“yz. That the instructors must be examined as to their 
qualifications by the committee, and receive their appoint- 
ments from them. 

2. That the books, exercises, and studies should all be 
prescribed and regulated by the committee, and that no 
other whatever should be taught or allowed. 

3. That these schools should be placed, as respects the 
examination, inspection, and general supervision of the com- 
mittee, on precisely the same footing with the other schools 
of the town.” 1° 

Father Conelly agreed on condition that all instructors 
should be Catholic, the books should contain no facts not 
admitted by the Catholic church, and no remarks reflecting 


159 Cushing v. Inhabitants of Newburyport, 1845. 

160 Walsh, p. 9. 

161 Regulations for the Public Schools of the Town of Lowell, 1832, 
pp. 7, 8. 

162 Walsh, p. 9. 


194 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


injuriously on their system or belief. Later he approved 
the regular books in use.*® 

The town immediately began support of these schools, 
for we find these items of expense: 


The Salaries of Instructors, Year ending March 1, 1836.16 


Patrick Collins $223.98 
Daniel M’Ilroy 71.92 
Mrs. Woodbury and Daughter 95.92 
Items in fiscal year, 1836.16 
Daniel M’Iroy 262.50 
Patrick Collins 262.50 
Mary J. Woodbury 131.25 
Richard Walsh 20.15 
Patrick M’Donough, finishing schoolroom in 

Catholick Church 155.00 


Patrick Collins had been an instructor in the town schools 
and was put in charge of the school in the church basement. 
Mrs. Woodbury was a convert from Protestantism and she 
and her daughter assisted in the primary. Daniel McIlroy 
had had charge of the Chapel Hill school and was adopted 
into the town system with the school. In 1838 the Collins 
and McIlroy schools were combined to form the Fifth 
Grammar School.1** The teachers in the schools were lay- 
men, but all Catholics and carried on the regular rolls. The 
repairs in the Catholic church are accounted for by the 
fact that School No. 11 was located in the basement, the 
rent being guaranteed to the city free for five years from 
September, 1836, but the city owning the stove and other fur- 
niture and paying for repairs. No. 15 later had free rent 
there and the city was tenant at sufferance.‘®? Unfortu- 
nately there is no evidence as to the character and amount 


163 J[bid. 

164 Expenses of the Town of Lowell, Yr. Ending Mar. 1, 1836, p. 1. 

165 rst Annual Report of Receipts and Expenditures of the City of 
Lowell, 1836, pp. 8, 9, 10. 

168 Walsh |p. (zo. 

167 Annual Report of the School Committee of Lowell, 1840, pp. 5, 6. 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 195 


of religious education. Bible reading and prayer was re- 
quired in all schools of the city, and it is possible that the 
Douay version was used. After school the pupils attending 
at the church could have been given religious instruction by 
the same teacher or the priest. It is possible that this was 
arranged for all the children. At any rate, it is probable 
that it was given in some way after hours, as it would not 
have been permissible in school hours by state law or mu- 
nicipal regulations. But Bishop Fenwick would probably 
not have permitted the system unless it was given in some 
manner. 

For some years this system worked very satisfactorily. 
After the first half year the committee reported it was 
“eminently successful.” 1° In 1837 the mayor of Lowell 
complimented the schools in general, referring to them as 
“ these public nurseries of intelligence, freedom, good order, 
and religion.” 1° For the year from March to March, 
1837-1838, the average attendance, less than half the en- 
rollment, was: 17° 


Teacher School Males Females 
Patrick Collins Grammar No. 4 54 28 
Daniel McIlroy Grammar No. 5 29 22 
Peter McDermott Primary No. 11 25 27 
M. A. and S. M. Woodbury ‘“ No. 15 48 50 
Richard Walsh i No. 19 29 30 


The report for the year mentioned the prosperous condi- 
tion of the Irish schools and added that the Irish were not 
excluded from the other city schools and did attend. The 
report for the following year referred to the union of the 
two grammar schools to improve their character and stated 
that the time schedule and rotation of exercises was now the 
the same as in other schools of the same rank.‘ 

In 1840 there were one grammar school and five primaries. 

168 Walsh, pp. 10-12. 

169 Address of the Mayor, Apr. 3, 1837, p. 6. 


170 Annual Report of the School Committee of Lowell, 1838, Table. 
att Tbtd 1830, 


196 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


and the committee congratulated themselves on the wisdom 
of the plan adopted, which they believed to be peculiar to 
Lowell. The advantages were more Irish in school, crime 
prevention, and no prejudice or exclusiveness. It believed 
there was no danger from the concessions made so long as 
the committee prescribed the course of study and it was the 
Same as in other schools.'7? Two years later the committee 
reported a new house needed for the Irish grammar school, 
and that the five Irish primaries were well conducted and bet- 
ter patronized and needed more rooms near the new Catholic 
churchini* 

In 1844 dissatisfaction with Principal Flynn and other 
teachers led to a petition for their removal by Catholic 
parents and a marked slump in the attendance. The com- 
mittee appointed Mr. Shattuck, who may not have been a 
Catholic, in his place, and the agreement was continued in 
operation. But apparently the schools gradually lost. their 
distinctive character and non-Catholics were appointed as 
teachers.‘7* In 1849 the grammar school was named the 
Mann School in honor of Horace Mann,’* hardly a com- 
pliment to the Irish. About that time the chairman of the 
school committee referred to the successful plan which had 
been used to bring the Irish under the influence of public 
school instruction.‘“® By 1851 there were almost as many 
Irish in other grammar schools as in the Irish Mann 
School.’*7 The report for that year stated that the exclusive 
school idea had been yielding to a wiser policy. The im- 
portance of the problem appears from the fact that 43 per 
cent of the parents of primary children were of foreign 
birth.17* The exclusively Irish schools must then have been 
giving religious training, for all the grammar principals re- 

172 Tbid., 1840, p. 7. 

173) Tbid., 1842, p. 4. 

174 Walsh, pp. 12-14. 

175 Annual Report of the School Committee of Lowell, 1849, p. 13. 

176 Edson, p. Io. 


177 Annual Report of the School Committee of Lowell, 1851, p. 88. 
TT OH DEG Ent: 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 197 


plied that they introduced the morning session with prayer 
and Scripture reading; all the primary teachers were be- 
ginning with prayer except possibly two who did not an- 
swer.'*® Therefore by this time the Irish schools were 
practically no different from the others, except that only 
Irish attended some of them. Doubtless the school authori- 
ties had accomplished what they wished, they had coaxed 
the Irish into the public schools. The special agreement 
seems from now on to have been forgotten in the passions 
of the Know-Nothing movement and the establishment of 
parochial schools. 

Dissatisfied with the lay religious instruction which was 
being given under the special agreement, the Catholics in 
1852 established a free school for girls under the direction 
of the Sisters of Notre Dame. The Catholics hoped to have 
this adopted into the compromise arrangement, but the 
school authorities naturally refused to put Sisters of a Cath- 
olic religious order on the payroll.'*° The result was the 
gradual establishment of a system of private parochial 
schools rather than the more democratic system of all chil- 
dren in the public schools, with no religious education given 
which would violate the conscience of anyone or promote 
the interests of a particular religious group, a compromise 
which neither side was willing to make. The Protestants 
by employing Protestant teachers for Irish children, who 
undoubtedly read from the King James version of the 
Bible, violated the former; the Catholics, by applying for 
school funds for nuns to teach distinctive Catholic doctrines, 
not only violated the latter but asked what was legally im- 
possible. The passage just at this time of the first com- 
pulsory school attendance law gave the school committee 
the opportunity to say that this school was being established 
to supply a deficiency in the religious education of Catho- 
lics, while it was the duty of the state to see that all chil- 
dren were educated on a common basis. It believed that 
the state must retain a general oversight, since no children 

179 Jbid., p. 92. 180 Burns, pp. 287-290; Walsh, pp. 14-15. 


198 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


could work in mills without an amount of schooling which 
the state deemed competent.'*! The following year a large 
section of the report was headed Sectarian Schools.**? Ad- 
mitting the right of any sect to establish its own schools, 
it believed they should be permitted only if they subserved 
the object of the free school system established and made 
compulsory by law. Because there was, however, no oppor- 
tunity of investigation by the school board, because the 
avowed object was religious teaching rather than training 
of the mind as in public education, and because experience 
proved instruction in the parochial schools was inferior 
in the regular subjects, it believed they did not meet 
the purpose of the democratic system of public schools. 
The committee did not argue for prayer, Bible reading, 
or a creed in the public schools; it would keep out sectari- 
anism and prevent sectarian parochial schools. This state- 
ment is a splendid example of how the Catholic demands 
solidified the demand for a totally unsectarian public edu- 
cation. 

In 1854 some of the Irish girls returned to the public 
schools from the parochial school,'** but the parochial school 
had really become a permanent institution. No supervi- 
sion by the school committee apparently existed, except that 
a form of employment certificate was prepared, by which 
the private teacher certified that the child had attended 
for eleven weeks, had had instruction in certain specified 
subjects, and had been taught by a legally qualified 
teacher.1** Thus the parochial schools met the provisions 
of the attendance laws and gave whatever religious edu- 
cation they pleased; the publicly supported schools gave no 
creedal teaching, but religion was incidentally given “in 
reading the Bible, offering prayer, inculcating the love of 
God and the love of man.” ?*° 

The Lowell experiment has been given because it was 


181 Annual Report of the School Committee of Lowell, 1852, p. 20 
182 Ibid., 1853, pp. 42-48. 184 Jbid., p. 23. 
188 Ibid,,), 1854, ‘pp. \20,) 21. 185 Jbid., 1855, pp. 14-15. 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 199 


unique in Massachusetts but brought out more clearly the 
underlying difficulties which presented themselves where- 
ever there was a Catholic population, and showed that 
while the settlement made on the terms of Horace Mann 
might be temporarily expedient, where only Protestant sects 
were involved, its faulty principles could not stand general 
application. To be sure, Mann advocated the right of 
every parent to determine the religious education of his 
children, but his system did not actually permit that. We 
shall now notice briefly the reaction of the state in general 
to the Catholic problem. 

The question of parochial church schools as opposed to 
public schools was not entirely a Catholic one. In New 
York the early education was by church schools, and in 
1801 the state legislature divided the school money of New 
York City among its different religious denominations. The 
Reformed Dutch, the Episcopalians, the Baptists, Metho- 
dists, and Catholics claimed funds under this. provision.1*® 
But later when the Catholics asked funds for their regular 
parochial schools, about 1840, the Reformed Dutch, Pres- 
byterians, Methodists, and Baptists were found in opposi- 
tion and the result was the passage in 1842 of a law 
prohibiting all school money to schools allowing sectarian 
teaching.'®’ The attitude of Bishop Hughes of New York 
in this struggle in that state attracted attention to the 
Catholic position throughout the country. The Boston Re- 
corder was in strong opposition to the Catholics and quoted 
a New York sermon opposing the Catholic attempt to re- 
move the Bible from the public schools and advising them 
to establish papal schools and write on them: ‘ Who enter 
here, leave the Word of God behind.’ **® The Christian 
Register, Unitarian, noted the Catholic advances and that 
they had in some places caused the exclusion of the Bible 


186 A. J. Hall, Religious Education in the Public Schools of New 
York (Chicago, 1914), pp. 36-50. 

187 Jbid., pp. 53-62. 

188 The Boston Recorder, July 6, 1843, p. 108. 


200 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


from the schools, but considered it a providential reward 
for their exceptional labors.1*® But “ Franklin” in the 
Boston Courier thought the only way out was to exclude 
all religious instruction, including the reading of the Bible, 
from the public schools. Any religion taught must neces- 
sarily be sectarian.**° 

But precisely this exclusion of religious teaching was now 
driving some denominations to the temporary advocacy of 
parochial schools. We have seen how the Episcopalians and 
Presbyterians as well as the Catholics were facing that way 
and the Congregationalists of Massachusetts considered it in 
1848.1°! But a writer in the New Englander opposed this 
tendency because the public and private systems could not 
well exist side by side, the public system was established 
and the other new and untried, the former was necessary 
for a democratic education of all the people in an efficient 
way, and it was possible to have religious instruction which 
would be fair to all sects in the public schools. Children 
should be educated as Americans, not Baptists, Episco- 
palians, Protestants, Catholics, or foreigners. Catholics re- 
fused to attend because the common schools were unfairly 
and unwisely made Protestant, but there would be no 
trouble if all were treated alike. With prophetic insight 
this periodical claimed that the state was of no religion, 
and suggested a division of labor, with the state providing 
the secular teaching and the religious teaching provided 
‘in other and better ways.” Two plans proposed to meet 
these general principles were extremely significant. One 
provided for religious instruction in schools, by local agree- 
ment on what should be taught, or by special classes each 
using their own manual or catechism, or by instruction 
by ministers at particular hours with optional attendance. 
This plan was at least fair to all, though illegal in Massa- 
chusetts. But a preferred plan was to exclude direct re- 
ligious instruction from the day school, where it was con- 


189 The Christian Register, Apr. 20, 1844, p. 62. 
190 The Boston Courier, Mar. 27, 1847. 191 Supra, p. 246. 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 201 


sidered to be of little value, and leave it to the Sabbath 
school, sanctuary, pastors, and parents. It hoped the Pres- 
byterians would give up their parochial schools.'®? 

These incidents show the uncertainty which prevailed 
among Protestants until the potato famine sent the Irish 
Catholics to these shores in shiploads, about 1848. The 
year previously Mayor Josiah Quincy of Boston collected 
and sent $150,000 for famine sufferers. So it is small wonder 
that many of them landed in the home of the Puritans and 
Pilgrims. Here many were engaged in construction work 
during the period of railroad building or went into the ris- 
ing factories of the New England towns and cities. Start- 
ing in poverty and living in squalid quarters provided along 
construction jobs or around factories, their numerous prog- 
eny for whom the church could not immediately provide 
adequately and who did not attend the common schools 
became a matter of official concern to the public authorities. 
The priests thought the non-sectarian schools a device for 
the Americanization of the Irish by making them lose the 
Catholic religion. 1% This is probably not the reason for 
making the schools non-sectarian, for the law was passed 
before the new problem attracted attention. But the chil- 
dren were notable for their absence from school. It was 
doubtless this situation which influenced the Lowell au- 
thorities to compromise somewhat to get them into the 
public schools. About 1851 there was a marked hostility 
of the Catholic periodicals and authorities to the public 
school system, and a determined attempt made to finance 


192 The New Englander, April, 1848, pp. 230-240. 

193 Louis S. Walsh, Religious Education in the Public Schools of 
Mass., in Am. Cath. Qr., Jan. 1904, pp. 106-111. Walsh states that 
an acquaintance of Mann converted to Catholicism believed the real 
purpose of the non-sectarian schools was to make the Catholic children 
acquire the American conception of civic virtue in exchange for their 
religion. But Mann in his twelfth Report, p. 135, gave aS a reason 
for them the fact that the foreign parents ot Boston, whose children 
constituted a majority in the primary schools, would not send their 
children to sectarian schools in large part. 


202 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


parochial schools.'®* It was in the following year that the 
Sisters of Notre Dame came to Lowell. 

While Secretary Sears was opposed to having the state 
do the work of the church, he was sufficiently interested in 
the benefit to the state from the religious education of 
the church that in 1852 he conducted an investigation 
as to the percentage of school children attending Sunday 
Schools in six typical cities and small towns — Boston, 
Andover, Fall River, Boxford, Wayland, and Lowell. Of 
13,496 children, he found 12,026 were then in Sunday 
School, 1,008 had previously been, and only 462 had never 
attended. Of the last class they had home instruction, 
were very young, or the children of Irish immigrants or 
Quakers.?% 

In the same year an attempt was made to bring partic- 
ularly these immigrant children under the influence of 
some instruction by the passage of the compulsory attend- 
ance law. The writings of the period are full of references 
to the increasing criminality and poverty; and education, 
with a morality based on religion, was to be compulsorily 
applied to prevent this. This statute was the first of the 
kind in the United States; hence up to this time no one had 
been compelled to attend religious education in public 
schools. But this law only provided that parents of chil- 
dren 8 to 14 must send them to school 12 weeks annually 
unless they were otherwise instructed or had finished the 
branches of the public schools.1°° Hence parochial schools 
could be substituted and if so no one need receive an in- 
struction in religion to which he objected. Despite the law 
Secretary Sears in 1854 pointed out that the school popula- 
tion was increasing twice as fast as the attendance and 
attributed this to the policy of those who wished the Bible 
excluded from the schools.1%7 


194 Porter, p. 88. 

195 18th Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1854, pp. 102-104. 
196 Acts, 1852, chap. 240, sec. I, 2, 4. 

197 78th Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1854, p. 66. 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 203 


The Secretary also summed up the religious situation 
during his first six years. There had been two classes who 
had opposed non-sectarian religious education by the state. 
One wanted parochial schools or schools like colleges and 
academies; the other said state schools should exclude re- 
ligion entirely and in some places prayer was prohibited. 
The coming of the Irish strengthened the position of the 
latter, because it was considered necessary to educate them 
in the public schools to prevent riot and misrule. But they 
had also come to see that a reliance on religion was neces- 
sary to preserve the social order. Therefore the great bulk 
of the community was now united “on the common ground 
of a Christian but unsectarian education for all the children 
of the Commonwealth.” He expressed little sympathy for 
the exclusion of the Bible and believed it might be left to 
the conscientious teacher to teach the principles of piety. 
He hoped the children of the Catholics would return to 
the public schools when they saw the idea of sectarian 
schools supported by the state was entirely discarded by 
the state. In some towns all the clergy were still elected to 
the school committee regardless of qualifications, and in 
others they were all kept off.1% 

Meantime the question was becoming involved in the 
discussions of a constitutional convention and in party poli- 
tics. There had previously been a tendency for the Demo- 
crats to court some of the Calvinist elements of the interior 
who chafed under Whig Unitarian control of the state and 
its educational system and Harvard. In 1850 the Democrat 
and Free Soil parties united and elected the Democrat, 
George S. Boutwell, governor, and Charles Sumner as a 
Free Soil United States senator. Because of their support 
in the interior towns, they desired to change the system 
of state representation to the advantage of the rural dis- 
tricts, and called a constitutional convention in 1853. The 
Convention was organized and controlled by this Coalition. 
Robert T. Davis, an Irishman of Fall River, was the sole 

198 Jbid., pp. 45-48, 66, 67. 


204 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


representative of his race.19® Some idea of the religious 
divisions among the people at the time may be derived from 
the following enumeration of religious parishes: Congrega- 
tional Trinitarian, 473; Methodist ee aiey 2555 Baptist, 
250; Unitarian, 172; all others, 371.7° 

No changes relating to religion or education were reported 
by the committee on “the preamble and bill of rights, under 
the leadership of Charles Sumner. A memorial had been 
presented against any establishment or recommendations of 
religion.?° 

The question of prohibiting appropriations to sectarian 
schools came up as one of the minor matters and was not 
a party issue then. It happened that in that year the Cath- 
olics had demanded a division of the money in several 
states.°°? The only actual payment in Massachusetts for 
Trish schools was in Lowell, and these could not be called 
sectarian according to the current definition. At least this 
plan was hoped for in other places and pay for the Sisters 
of Notre Dame had been asked in 1852.79? The first pro- 
posal for the prohibition was made by Mr. Powers of 
Lowell, providing that the School Fund should never be 
applied to sectarian schools or schools founded upon sec- 
tarian principles.2°* This proposal came back from the 
committee on the encouragement of literature, of which the 
former Whig governor, George N. Briggs, a Baptist, was 
chairman, with the prohibition applied also to money raised 
by taxation, and the term denominational as well as sectarian 
applied to the excluded schools.?°° After the committee of 
the whole had recommended it should pass,?°* Mr. Stetson 
of Braintree moved on second reading to add colleges. This 


199 4 Manual for the Constitutional Convention, 1917, pp. 41-46. 
200 | Sew: Doe i134; 1354; 

201 Documents, Constitutional Convention, 1853, No. 107. 

202 Martin, Evolution of the Mass. Pub. Sch. System, pp. 231-236. 
203 Walsh, The Early Irish Catholic Schools of Lowell, p. 18 

204 Debates and Proceedings in State Convention, 1853, I, p. 359. 
205 Documents, Constitutional Convention, 1853, No. 93. 

206 Journal of the Constitutional Convention, 1853, p. 188. 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 205 


brought out the direct statement from Dr. Samuel K. 
Lothrop, a Boston clergyman of the committee, that the in- 
tended purpose was only to provide against a denominational 
and sectarian influence in the common schools supported 
by taxation, and that it would be unwise to preclude later 
appropriations to colleges, with which particular religious 
views were associated.*°’ Opposition to the proposed 
amendment was expressed by Mr. Frothingham of Charles- 
town, who thought the constitution already guaranteed all 
sects equality and that was sufficient; and by an orthodox 
Amherst graduate, Mr. Keys, who asked whether it was 
aimed at the Catholics, and said that Holy Cross at Worces- 
ter, which had burned, though the strictest sectarian col- 
lege in New England, had the same right to funds from 
the state as Harvard or Amherst.?°° Subsequent discussion 
showed that the convention wished to draw a line between 
state aid to sectarian common schools, and sectarian acad- 
emies and colleges; although Mr. Bird of Walpole argued 
for the logical conclusion that the principle should be the 
Same in common schools, normal schools, and colleges. He 
asserted that the Catholics would not oppose the new con- 
stitution if all were thus treated exactly alike.*°? Because 
the important changes in the constitution related to party 
advantages in representation, the question of adoption 
would have to be fought on a party basis, and the Catholic 
vote was therefore not to be ignored. 

After the convention had settled upon the idea that the 
scope of the amendment should include only the common 
schools, they did not have the courage to define the word 
sectarian. Mr. Rantoul of Beverly, who had sat in the 
convention of 1820, with a wisdom born of experience, 
warned that they could not agree on the meaning of that 
term and that the Catholics would say the Protestant schools 
were sectarian and vice versa. He warned against stirring 


207 Debates and Proceedings, Il, p. 543. 
208 Debates. and Proceedings, Il, pp. 543-545. 
209 [bid., II, pp. 545, 546, 548. 


206 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


up trouble between the two groups. 7° Then Mr. Blagden 
brought out openly that it was “a Catholic measure” in 
the true sense of the term. By this he meant that it was 
designed to prevent appropriations to a particular religious 
sect which had applied for funds in other states, and to pre- 
serve the common schools where all religious sects would 
meet together and receive a modifying influence." He 
failed to see that a rival system of parochial schools was 
certain to come anyway unless the term sectarian could be 
defined satisfactorily. Rather than leave the definition to 
the courts as to whether the reading of the King James or 
Douay versions would constitute sectarian instruction, it 
was suggested by several that a form prepared by Mr. 
Parker of Cambridge, which omitted sectarian and gave 
money only to schools under the regular administration of 
the public authorities, was preferable. This excluded paro- 
chial schools and at the same time left it to the committees 
to interpret the law of 1827, at least in the first instance.?’” 

After two unsuccessful attempts had been made to take 
from the table the original committee amendment,?** Mr. 
Parker of Cambridge submitted his in exactly the form in 
which it became a part of the constitution two years later. 
It read as follows: 74 

‘“All moneys raised by taxation in the towns and cities 
for the support of public schools, and all moneys which 
may be appropriated by the state for the support of com- 
mon schools, shall be applied to, and expended in, no other 
schools than those which are conducted according to law, 
under the order and superintendence of the authorities of 
the town or city in which the money is to be expended; 
and such moneys shall never be appropriated to any religious 
sect for the maintenance, exclusively, of its own schools.” 

210 Ibid., II, p. 546. 

211 Jbid., II, p. 547. 

212 Tbid., II, pp. 549-550. 

“13 Journal, pp. 241, 289. 
: “14 Debates and Proceedings, II, p. 337; Documents, No. 123; R. L., 
» Pp. 47. 


a 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 207 


On July 27 the Parker amendment was substituted for the 
committee one and passed without explanation or debate.??® 
But immediately reconsideration was moved and a real de- 
bate ensued.**® The opposition was distinctly in behalf of 
the Catholics, or at least wished to treat everybody in- 
cluding Harvard on the same basis, if it passed at all; but 
one fifth did not support a motion for the yeas and nays, 
and the motion to reconsider was ultimately lost 87-183. 
It was not a party issue. Parker was a Whig and connected 
with Harvard, so that it was charged the word exclusively 
was inserted to make sure that Harvard could still get funds, 
aS was not so certain under the original committee resolu- 
tion presented by Briggs, also a Whig. Butler and Bird 
of the Coalition were leading opponents, but Butler said 
he wished Briggs were there to aid them during the debate. 
It is probable, however, that the Coalition were more anx- 
ious to conciliate the Catholics. It appears plain that the 
purpose of the convention as a whole was to prevent Catho- 
lic parochial schools from receiving public funds while at 
the same time leaving the way clear to appropriations to 
colleges and academies which were sectarian in control or 
teaching. They were willing to trust the legislature not 
to appropriate to the College of the Holy Cross.*17 

Mr. Hallett objected properly to the ambiguity of exclu- 
sively and said it made the Supreme Court an ecclesiastical 
judge. Mr. Wood of Fitchburg believed that Protestant 
Bibles and prayers made the common schools sectarian and 
because the Irish must be educated appropriations should 
be made for schools for them. Mr. Butler considered it 
a sectarian attack and that the common schools were then 
sectarian. Some would let well enough alone.*'® 

On the other hand, it was argued that reconsideration 
would mean approval of sectarian schools; that the present 
schools teaching broad religious truths were not sectarian, 
and if bigotry kept the Catholics away, the state was not 


215 Debates and Proceedings, III, p. 472. 71% Ibid., pp. 613-626. 
216 Jbid., III, p. 474. 218 Jbid., pp. 615-622. 


208 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


responsible; that this amendment would keep the schools 
free of sectarianism so that the Catholics could attend them; 
and Mr. Crowninshield of Boston said it was useless now 
to try to conciliate the Catholics, for they knew why the 
amendment had been originally passed and that the ques- 
tion of representation had also been settled to their dis- 
advantage.”?? 

Thus the amendment went to the people with the rest 
of the work of the convention. This particular amendment 
was scarcely mentioned in the extensive discussions, and 
while not a party issue went down to defeat in the general 
Whig victory of winning the election of state offices and 
defeating the work of the constitutional convention.?*° The 
Boston Post favored the constitution but not the Coalition 
with Free Soil, and this Democratic paper is authority for 
the statement that the Whig opposition did not extend to 
the amendment relative to school monies.?** One cause 
of the defeat of the whole document has been ascribed to 
the effective Irish opposition, under the leadership of priests 
and periodicals, because of the sectarian schools amendment 
and the additional representation conferred on the rural 
districts.*?? But fashionable Whig Boston opposed as much 
as the Irish wards, and the sectarian amendment was lost 
by 401 votes. The vote on all propositions was also nar- 
TOW. 

This, however, did not end the proposition. Emory Wash- 
burn, the last Whig governor of Massachusetts, recom- 
mended some of the defeated proposals for legislative ref- 


219 Jbid., pp. 617-626. 

220 Discussions on the Constitution, 1853 (Boston, 1854), pp. 228, 
230, 235-257; Boston Post, Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, 1853; James Schouler, 
The Massachusetts Convention of 1853, in Proceedings of the Mass. 
Hist. Soc., 2d ser., XVIII, pp. 30-48. 

221 Boston Post, Nov. 11, 1853. 

222 C. F. Adams, Richard Henry Dana, Biography (Boston, 1890), 
I, pp. 239-251. 

223 H. Doc. 5, 1854; A Manual for the Constitutional Convention, 
1917, pp. 63, 64. 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 209 


erence to the people; but he did not include the one on 
sectarian schools.?** Mr. Colburn of Dracut was later able 
to get reference of the sectarian amendment to the joint 
special committee to whom this section of the governor’s 
message had been referred, and later to compel them to 
report on it.2*° It was passed speedily in the House under 
suspended rules, with only eight votes in opposition; and 
it was concurred in by the Senate.?*° In the following year 
Governor Henry J. Gardner recommended the second passage 
required for reference,?** it passed the House with only Mr. 
Terry of Freetown in opposition,?** and subsequently went 
through all stages to a popular ratification May 23, 1855.7° 

In the hectic state of Massachusetts policies characteriz- 
ing the period, the election of 1854 had put the American 
or Know-Nothing party in absolute control. A year before 
the election lodges of the Supreme Order of the Star Span- 
gled Banner had quietly spread over the state and the effect 
of their propaganda was surprisingly evident when a Senate 
was elected composed entirely of Know-Nothings and there 
were sclitary representatives in the House of the Whig, 
Democratic, and Free Soil parties. Twenty-four members 
of the legislature were clergymen.”*° In this temper the 
passage of the sectarian school amendment was a foregone 
conclusion; but it would have passed if the Americans had 
not won. In his /naugural Governor Gardner boldly pro- 
claimed an American program of the English language in 
all schools aided by the state, the retention of the Bible in 
the common schools, and the entire separation of church 
and state. His slogan was “ Spiritual Freedom, a Free 
Bible, and Free Schools.” But since the days of persecu- 


224 Sen. Doc. 3, 1854. 

225 Journal of the House of Representatives, 1854, pp. 114, 877, 887. 

226 Ibid., pp. 983ff., 1022; H. Doc. 193, 1854. 

227 Acts and Resolves, 1855, p. 986. 

228 Boston Daily Courier, Feb. 20, 1855. 

fey Re LiL, DAT: 

230 George H. Haynes, A Know Nothing Legislature, in An. Repori 
of Am. Hist. Asso., 1896, I, pp. 177-187. 


210 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


tion of Quakers the tables had turned. Then the Quaker 
objected to state domination of religion; now the American 
objected to state subordination to the church. Men who 
were taught that the spiritual overrode the temporal would 
vote to help the church, not the state. After proposing a 
set of radical amendments aimed at persons of foreign birth, 
he said regarding schools: 

‘Our schools, we are confident, will continue to prosper 
while in them are inculcated the great lessons of morality 
and Christianity drawn from The Book which for more 
than 200 years has been read in them by successive genera- 
tionsy4 794 

During the session bills were introduced for an examina- 
tion and inspection of teachers in private schools, and for 
compulsory Bible reading in public schools. Only the latter 
passed.”*?. It was reported by a special committee in a 
form to require a daily reading of some portion of the 
Bible in the common English version, and authorizing the 
school committee to direct what other books shall be used 
in the public schools.”*? It was passed to third reading 
after a long debate as to whether to require the reading 
to be by the pupils, with the result that it was finally left 
so that the local committees could decide.*** Despite a 
Senate attempt to specify the King James version, the bill 
was passed in the above form.**° 

The period since the establishment of the State Board 
of Education in 1837 had seen a large amount of discussion 
regarding the relation of the state to religious education, 
but little actual legal change. At the beginning sectarian 
books were prohibited and oral sectarian instruction was 
considered to be within the spirit of the prohibition. There 
was little opposition to this and the teaching of distinctive 


231 Acts and Resolves, 1855, pp. 977, 986-087, 908. 

232 Haynes, as supra. 

233 H. Doc. 108, 1855. 

234 The Puritan Recorder, Mar. 1, 1855. 

235 The Watchman and Reflector, Mar. 1, 1855; Acts, 1855, chap. 410. 


Elimination of Sectarian Public Education 211 


doctrines was an exception; but when it was feared that 
the common schools were to be used to foster deism, natural 
religion, or Unitarianism, a denominational jealousy arose 
and was fostered by a misunderstanding of the real aims of 
Horace Mann, starting originally from the Packard pam- 
phlet. These discussions showed that with the exception 
of some Episcopalians and a few Congregationalists, the 
Massachusetts leaders all favored a non-sectarian religious 
education in the public schools, and would require this 
much in practice and permit no more. School regulations 
and textbooks conformed to this standard. There was a 
gradual increase in the use of the Bible in the schools and 
in a moral training based on the principles of Christianity. 
But direct religious instruction was practically non-existent, 
though the atmosphere of the schools was favorable to Prot- 
estant Christianity. When it was clear this non-sectarian 
religious education was not aimed to promote Unitarianism 
or deism, and it came to be associated more with civic than 
ecclesiastical purposes; and when the Roman Catholics ap- 
peared in numbers sufficient to demand with some possi- 
bility of success that they be not subjected to what they 
considered a sectarian Protestant religious education, and 
that in lieu of that they be given money for parochial 
schools for the teaching of Catholic doctrines, a rising tide 
of nationalism united the Protestant sects to provide in the 
fundamental law against a possible use of state money in- 
tended for common schools in sectarian schools which were 
not in the regularly administered system of common schools. 
But this was more a matter of expediency than principle, 
for care was taken to exclude colleges from the prohibition. 
By requiring the reading of a Protestant version of the 
Bible in all public schools, the legislature showed its desire 
to promote a religious training which it did not consider 
sectarian and which Catholics did. While the legislature 
would have been glad to make this compulsory for all 
children, the law was left loose enough so that any could 
escape by attending unsupervised parochial schools. 


CuaptTerR VIII 


THE WITHDRAWAL OF STATE SUPPORT OF 
SECTARIAN HIGHER INSTITUTIONS, 1837-1917 


Previous to the period under consideration we have seen 
that the state had largely departed from its early policy of 
patronage of academies and colleges, but not because they 
taught religion, or even sectarian religion. We shall now 
see how the withdrawal of support was intermittently dis- 
regarded and finally became permanent. 

The policy of the incorporation of academies and similar 
institutions of course continued, but without grants of land.* 


Name Flace Date 
‘New England Academy Cohasset 1838 
Townsend West Village Female Sem. West Townsend 1839 
Sheffield Academy Sheffield 1840 
Ashby Academy Ashby 1840 
Williston Seminary Easthampton 1841 
Truro Academy Truro 1841 
Washington Seminary Needham 1841 
Pepperell Academy Pepperell 1841 
Great Barrington Academy Great Barrington 1841 
Drury Academy North Adams 1841 
Greenfield Institute Greenfield 1843 
South Yarmouth Academy Yarmouth 1843 
Ireland Academy West Springfield 1844 
Winchendon Academy Winchendon 1845 
Lowell Lowell 1846 
Pine Grove Seminary Harwich 1846 
Lee Academy Lee 1847 
Adelphian Academy North Bridgewater 1847 


1 For purposes of reference, a list of such institutions chartered from 
1838 to 1875 is given here, compiled from H. Doc. 32, 1848, and from 
Walton, Report on Academies, in goth Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 
Appendix, pp. 176-181. Some may have existed without incorporation 
after 1847. 


212 


Withdrawal of State Support 213 
Name Place Date 
Shelburne Falls Academy Shelburne 1847 
Westminister Academy Westminister 1847 
Lancaster Academy Lancaster 1847 
Hinsdale Academy Hinsdale 1848 
Worcester Academy Worcester 1848 
Maplewood Academy Pittsfield 1849 
Quaboag Academy Warren 1850 
Punchard Free School Andover 1851 
Lasell Seminary of Young Women Auburndale 1851 
Oread Academy Worcester 1851 
Hollis Institute South Braintree 1851 
Mount Hollis Academy Holliston 1852 
Howe’s Academy Billerica 1852 
Myricksville Academy Taunton 1853 
Conway Academy Conway 1853 
Ladies Collegiate Institute Amherst 1854 
Rutland Academy Rutland 1854 
Riverside Academy Newton 1854 
Jubilee Hill Academy Pittsfield 1855 
English and Classical School West Newton 1855 
Titicut Academy Middleborough 1856 
South Berkshire Institute New Middleborough 1856 
Waltham New Church School Waltham 1857 
Power’s Institute Bernardston 1857 
Arms Academy Shelburne Falls 1860 
Pratt Free Academy Middleborough 1865 
Cushing Academy Ashburnham 1865 
St. Mark’s School Southborough 1865 
Dean Academy Franklin 1865 
Prospect Hill Female Academy Greenfield 1868 
Holyrood Academy Lowell 1868 
Amesbury and Salisbury Academy Amesbury 1869 
Wellesley Female Seminary Wellesley 1870 
Smith Academy Hatfield 1871 
Sawin Academy Sherborn 1871 
Thayer Academy Braintree 1873 
Chauncy Hall Boston 1874 
Deerfield Academy and 
Dickinson High School Deerfield 1875 


In some cases money appropriations were made to acad- 
emies, in response to the repeated requests. The academies 
fought a losing fight with the Normal Schools and high 


214 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


schools. But the report of the legislative committee in 
1840 in favor of the abolition of Normal Schools because 
academies and high schools trained teachers without ex- 
pense to the Commonwealth, shows that responsible officials 
still wished to see them continue as an integral part of the 
educational arrangements.” 

The development of the School Fund encouraged acad- 
emies to ask a share of it. In 1848 Wesleyan Academy 
asked $25,000, claiming to be a Methodist institution of 
catholic spirit and admitting all, and asserting that as the 
Methodists had no college they should have aid for this 
secondary school. The legislative committee refused to 
recognize a sect or denomination in politics, and said that 
while Harvard was Unitarian, grants to it were in behalf 
of general academic education in the state, not in behalf 
of Unitarianism. The creation of the Board of Education 
and Normal Schools had changed the state policy, and ap- 
propriations to academies were no longer to be expected.® 
The legislature, however, amended a reported bill for an ad- 
dition to the number of trustees so as to give Wesleyan one 
half of the proceeds of the first township sold after Septem- 
ber 1, 1848, which otherwise would have gone to the School 
Fund.* | 

Another academy which persistently applied was the New 
Salem Academy. Incorporated in 1795 and later granted 
one half of a township from which it received $5,000, it had 
a successful history until its buildings were destroyed in 
1837. Its religious education was definite, for in 1840 it 
was using Evidences of Christianity and Wayland’s Moral 
Science as texts, it scheduled a Bible recitation every Mon- 
day morning on the miracles, parables, discourses of Christ, 
and the Commandments. Sacred music was taught twice 
weekly.° The committee reported that this institution, as 
also the Townsend West Village Female Seminary and Egre- 
mont Academy, were worthy of support if such special 


2 H. Doc., 49, 1840. 4 Acts, 1848, chap. 244. 
3 H. Doc., 114, 1848. 5 Catalogue, 1840, p. 8. 


Withdrawal of State Support 215 


grants were to be continued. But the requests were refused 
in favor of the newer policy of “a just and all embracing 
scheme of patronage of institutions of education.” ® This 
shows conclusively that it was a democratic and not re- 
ligious issue which refused grants to academies. The 
following year, 1852, New Salem returned in company 
with Quaboag, Pierce, and Egremont. The committee re- 
port referred to the great services the academies had per- 
formed in training many for service in church and state, 
but said that for many years they had been practically ex- 
cluded from the patronage of the state. It postponed the 
issue by asking the Secretary of the Board of Education 
to investigate the needs of the academies and report to 
the next legislature.” No reports on the subject were pre- 
sented the next year.* The anesthesia apparently worked 
well. | 

When the sectarian amendment relating to common 
schools was under consideration, the academy viewpoint 
was undoubtedly well expressed by Rev. Miner Raymond, 
Methodist principal of Wesleyan Academy, in the Election 
Sermon before the General Court on January 4, 1854. His 
text was: ‘“‘ Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.” 
He indicated that family, school, state, and church had each 
their separate sphere of action and mode of operation; but 
that they were mutually dependent and all aiming at the 
happiness of the people. The legislature should do all that 
was constitutionally possible to promote morals and pro- 
tect religion. A Christian legislature should foster the in- 
terests of education, while an atheistical education was an 
enormity. Because of the difficulty of introducing religious 
instruction into state supported schools, he approved the 
middle course which had been adopted in the main in the 
state. He would have the primary and high schools state 
institutions with the religious instruction at home; but 
academies, colleges, and higher seminaries should be under 
religious supervision and controlled by sects, because the 

6 Sen. Doc. 85, 1850. ASE DI GC i) FOTN LoS T 8 H. Docs., 1852. 


216 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


students were away from home. The “ so-called state uni- 
versity ” should cease to be such and the state extend pat- 
ronage to all. Teachers should have a marked religious 
character; and as it was hard to get this in unsectarian 
schools, it would be better to let the colleges and academies 
train the teachers and give them the funds now devoted 
to Normal Schools.® 

When Wesleyan petitioned for aid in 1858 after two 
boarding houses had burned, a more careful system of state 
finance prevented an appropriation. The joint committee 
on education had recommended a resolve for $5,000 from 
the School Fund for four years, because the institution ca- 
tered to those not using the elementary schools in youth, 
who “ through the beneficent social influences under which 
they are brought in later youth, or by the more radical 
regenerating power of divine grace, awake to their inferior- 
ity, before it is too late to mend.’ *° But when the resolve 
was referred to the finance committee, it was refused be- 
cause all the income of the School Fund was required for 
purposes authorized by law, and because it was a continuing 
appropriation. If paid, it should be from the proceeds of 
taxation, and the propriety of this was questioned."* 

But in the following year it chanced that the treasury 
was overflowing from the proceeds of improvements in the 
Back Bay of Boston and the colleges were getting a pro- 
portion of the expected moiety from the sale of land granted 
to them. Wesleyan applied with them and the committee 
reported that it was the only Methodist academy in Massa- 
chusetts; that there were 100,000 worshippers in Methodist 
churches in the state; that while the institution was Metho- 
dist it did not propagate sectarian views, two thirds of the 
pupils were of other denominations, and were allowed to 
attend either of the churches in Wilbraham; that it trained 
teachers for the public schools; and that because of two dis- 
astrous fires a bill was reported for aid.'* Subsequently a 


9 Election Sermon, H. Docs., 1854. 11H. Doc., 155, 1858. 
POOL DOE 76,01 868. 12 Sen. Doc. 83, 1859. 


Withdrawal of State Support 214 


second bill was reported giving six per cent of the pro- 
ceeds of the Back Bay land sale, and this one became law."° 
To enable them to rebuild, the legislature the next year ad- 
vanced $22,000, to be repaid with interest as the Back Bay 
money accrued, provided the academy get subscriptions for 
$30,000."* 

In 1860 an unsuccessful attempt was made to secure a 
continuing appropriation of $5,000 for the Ladies Collegiate 
Institute, “ to encourage collegiate education for females.” ?° 
In the following year Monson Academy, Merrimack Acad- 
emy at Groveland, the Ladies Collegiate Institute, and the 
New England Female Medical College were all refused be- 
cause it would be contrary to accepted policy, the lands in 
Maine were devoted to the School Fund, the Back Bay lands 
were pledged, and there was no precedent to take it directly 
from the treasury.'® 

The religious aim, atmosphere, and content of Mt. Hol- 
yoke Seminary has been previously explained.*’ In 1867-68 
the study of the Bible was distributed throughout the four 
years of the course, and in addition such kindred subjects 
as Ecclesiastical History, Natural Theology, Moral Science, 
Evidences of Christianity, and Butler’s Analogy were in the 
curriculum. The Sabbath was considered the most impor- 
tant day of all and the young ladies were not permitted to 
make or receive calls.1® The institution was now approach- 
ing college grade, but had never received any aid from the 
state. In 1864 a committee reported an appropriation of 
$25,000 “ when a surplus shall accrue from the moiety of 
the income from the sales of the Back Bay lands,” to enable 
it to rebuild and enlarge. The report stated the institution 
was decidedly religious, but there were no religious tests 
for admission and no discriminations because of the religious 

13 Sen. Doc. 104, 1859; Acts, 1859, chap. 154. 

14 H. Doc. 136, 1860; Resolves, 1860, chap. 45. 
15 Sen. Doc. 109, 1860. 

16 H. Doc. 220, 1861. 

17 Supra, p. 176. 

18 Catalogue, 1867-68, pp. 18-23. 


218 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


faith of the students. On the basis of its principles, aims, 
and record of usefulness, it was deserving of aid.t® While 
this resolve failed, in 1868 it was allowed $40,000 for a 
library, heating apparatus, and needed repairs.°° 

In 1869 Bradford Academy, which had been since 1836 
exclusively for women, was building to the extent of $100,- 
ooo and had raised by subscription half the amount. The 
remainder they asked from the state.” Its curriculum after 
that date included practically the same religious content as 
Mt. Holyoke.?? Although a resolve for $25,000 was reported 
on the supposition that it would become a college and should 
have equal treatment with the institutions for men, the 
legislature only authorized it to increase the amount of its 
real and personal estate.?* 

The last two state appropriations for academies were 
$5,000 to the Dukes County Academy in 1871 and $10,000 
to the New Salem Academy in 1869.74 Since the two which 
had received the most aid in the later period were excep- 
tionally religious institutions, Wesleyan and Mt. Holyoke; 
and since refusals were in no cases made on the ground that 
the petitioners were engaged in religious education, it is 
very clear that the state was not opposed to supporting this 
type of religious education. 

Many of the academies were, of course, still receiving 
some aid from land grants of a much earlier period, if they 
had devoted them to buildings or permanent funds. Besides, 
all received the equivalent of state support in tax exemp- 
tions, according to the law which exempted the personal 
property of all literary, benevolent, charitable, and scien- 
tific institutions incorporated in Massachusetts and the real 
estate actually used for the purpose, if no profit was divided. 


19 Sen. Doc. 181, 1864. 

20 Sen Doc. 136, 1868; Resolves, 1868, chap. 39. 

21 Sen. Doc. 78, 1869. 

22 Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1875-1876, Appendix, pp. 262, 
2028 

23 H. Doc. 378, 1869; Acts, 1869, chap. 320. 

24 Appropriations for Sectarian and Private Purposes, pp. 60-77. 


Withdrawal of State Support 219 


All houses of worship were likewise exempted.?° Under 
this law Wesleyan Academy successfully protested assess- 
ment on its farm, part of which was used to supply the 
boarding table and part of which was waste.”° 

Because of the endowments the state had some right to 
direct the administration of some of the academies, partic- 
ularly because as time passed they frequently became re- 
lated to the towns in such a way that they served as the 
town high school required by law. A case in point occurred 
at Groton in 1859, when the trustees of Lawrence Academy 
suspended eight pupils for attending a dancing school out 
of school hours and while living with their parents. An 
appeal was made to the legislature, and a committee re- 
ported on the status of academies. It was considered that 
the act of 1797 made academies in a sense public schools, 
and a part of the universal system of public education. For 
35 years the people of Groton through the town had paid 
$40 annually to Groton Academy for the shares which they 
had assumed as original founders. Therefore the committee 
reported that the people of Groton and the Commonwealth 
had rights in the academy, since renamed Lawrence Acad- 
emy, and that no state or town endowed academies were 
private schools. On this basis an act was reported restrict- 
ing the power of such academies to make rules, but it did 
not pass.?? 

After 1850 high schools rapidly supplanted academies and 
many of the latter were made over into public high schools. 
An example of this is the legislative authorization in 1851 
to the trustees of Framingham Academy to convey their 
property to the town, on condition that a high school be 
maintained forever.?® After 1840 the Eliot School served 
as a high school connected with the Roxbury school system.”® 
Arms Academy was incorporated in 1860, and the towns of 


ere Chav. 7, SC. 55 ACLS, 1857, Chap. 503, ACES) 1674) Chap. 1375s 
°6 Trustees of Wesleyan Academy v. Inhabitants of Wilbraham, 1868. 
27 H. Doc. 261, 1850. 28 Grizzell, pp. 137-140, 274. 

“9 goth Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1875-1876, Appendix, p. 219. 


220 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


Buckland and Shelburne in lieu of maintaining high schools 
were permitted to contribute $2,500 each to the funds left 
by the will of Ira Arms.*° In 1865 the trustees of Marble- 
head Academy were permitted to allow the town to use its 
buildings and the income of its funds.*t The town of An- 
dover was authorized in 1869 to raise $25,000 for a new 
building for the Punchard Free School, to contribute an- 
nually to it, to choose a majority of the trustees, to have 
general charge and superintendence, and to recommend 
pupils for admission.*? The will of Benjamin H. Punchard 
had bequeathed funds for a free school for the youths of 
Andover, with no sectarian influence, but with daily use of 
the Bible and a provision that the pupils should join audibly 
with the teacher in the Lord’s prayer each morning. This 
was substantially the legal status of religious education in 
the public schools. Eight trustees were to include the 
clergymen of an Episcopalian and two Congregational par- 
ishes and five others chosen by the town meeting from the 
membership of these parishes. An injunction was now 
sought to prevent the town from rebuilding as authorized 
by the legislature on the ground that it violated the secta- 
rian school amendment. That had referred to common 
schools and had required them to be “ under the order and 
superintendence of the authorities of the town” in order to 
avoid defining sectarian. The court held that the amend- 
ment did not apply to private schools, colleges, or academies 
under special charters and not intended for one territory. 
Public schools and common schools included the regular 
elementary, grammar, and high schools, for the general edu- 
cation of all the people. The court found that by the terms 
of the will the town could not be given control, but it was 
aimed to make it a public school. Therefore a perpetual 
injunction was granted because it violated the amendment.** 
It is interesting to note that the school was no more secta- 
80 Acts, 1860, chap. 49, 50. 


81 Acts, 1865, chap. 164. 32 Acts, 1869, chap. 396. 
83 Jenkins et. al. v. Inhabitants of Andover, et. al., 1869. 


Withdrawal of State Support 221 


rian than the public schools, and a straight prohibition of 
appropriations to sectarian schools would have permitted 
this arrangement. Hereafter there was serious difficulty in 
towns contributing to academies which they did not con- 
trol, in lieu of establishing high schools. 

From the bequest of Gov. Edward Hopkins, who died in 
1657, leaving funds to New England “ for the upholding 
and promoting of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ in 
these parts of the earth”’ there were established schools, of 
which the Hopkins Schools of Cambridge became the clas- 
sical department of the high school, and the Hopkins School 
of Hadley met in 1876 in a building owned by the town 
and was practically a high school. The latter was teaching 
Natural Theology.*# 

By 1876 there were 212 high schools in comparison with 
72 incorporated academies.*® In many cases where there 
was an academy in a sparsely settled district it was not expe- 
dient to establish also a public high school, so that various ex- 
pedients were tried to bring the academies under the order 
and superintendence of the town, without violating the origi- 
nal trust. This gave more trouble than the fact that the acad- 
emies were sectarian. But where they were under public 
administration, of course sectarian books could not be used. 
In 1891 Monson, Lawrence, and Partridge academies, and 
probably others, were furnishing instruction to the town 
pupils at the expense of the towns and were in a sense public 
schools.*® 

In 1894 laws were passed requiring towns to pay tuition, 
outside, of high school pupils, and in the following year a 
provision was made for the state to reimburse small towns 
for this expense, in cases where the town failed to main- 
tain a high school.*7. This and the law allowing towns to 


84 goth Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1875-1876, Appendix, pp. 
271, 272; Barnard, Am. Journal of Ed., XXX, pp. 745-746. 

35 goth Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., ‘Abstract, p. LIX. 

86 ssth Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1890-1891, p. 300. 

87 Acts, 1894, chap. 436, sec. 1; Acts, 1895, chap. 212. 


222 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


pay tuition of pupils in academies where these took the 
place of town high schools, made it necessary for the Board 
of Education to approve academies which might receive 
such tuition. In 1895 approval was given to Arms, Cushing, 
Hopkins, Leicester, Monson, Nichols, and Westford acad- 
emies and to Powers Institute of Bernardston.** But in the 
following year an opinion of the Attorney-General held the 
law permitting payment of tuition unconstitutional, as 
violating Article XVIII, the non-sectarian amendment. 
Whether sectarian or not, an academy not in the control 
of the municipality could not serve as a high school, which 
was a part of the system of public schools.*® But in 
1897 he decided that the Powers Institute was a public 
high school within the meaning of the statute, since the 
original grant had been accepted by the town, and all the 
trustees were chosen by the inhabitants of the town.*? 
There was no court decision, and in the absence of this 
some towns probably continued to violate the law. In the 
next Report the Secretary of the Board of Education pre- 
sented the following list of academies under the order and 
superintendence of the town or city; or else serving with- 
out appropriations by the town: Punchard Free School; 
Cushing Academy; Sanderson Academy ; Powers Institute; 
Howe’s Academy; Barker Free School; Hitchcock Free 
School; Deerfield Academy and Dickinson High School ; 
Nichols Academy; Partridge Academy; Hopkins Academy ; 
Manning School; Leicester Academy; Tabor Academy; 
Pratt Free School; Monson Academy; Dummer Academy ; 
Newbury High School and Putnam Free School; New Salem 
High School and Academy; Sawin Academy and Dowse 
High School; Arms Academy; Howard Seminary and West 
Bridgewater High School; Westfield High School (formerly 
Academy) ; Westford Academy; Murdock School.** Many 


88 soth Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1894-1895, p. 136. 

89 6oth Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1895-1896, pp. 147-150. 
40 Report of the Atty.-Gen., Yr. ending Jan. 19, 1898, p. 27. 

41 62nd Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1897-1898, pp. 104-112. 


Withdrawal of State Support pe: 


of these were originally of a denominational character, but 
the sectarian question was not involved, because they were 
not giving instruction that would violate the law, and the 
public schools could give non-sectarian religious instruction. 
The difficulty was only an indirect effect of an indirect 
method of prohibiting funds to sectarian institutions. 

In the case of colleges there was likewise a tendency to 
separate the state from all but strictly state institutions, 
both in control and finance. We shall notice first the move- 
ment which placed Harvard entirely separate from the state 
government. 

In 1840 Pres. Quincy wrote that the status of Harvard 
was not materially affected by religious sects or political 
parties. He was not entirely a true prophet. He believed 
there was a general acknowledgment that true happiness was 
derived from the culture of the intellectual nature in con- 
nection with the moral and religious. He insisted that the 
bounty of the state should go to the greater seminaries as 
well as to the elementary schools. Of the former only a few 
were advisable, lest there be a scramble among local literary 
and religious factions. He hoped Harvard would always 
be devoted to piety and the knowledge of Godliness, to 
ahrist)and «Cruth.7 |* 

But within the decade it developed that not all sects and 
parties were agreed that Harvard was devoted to the prop- 
agation of a democratic, unsectarian type of education. 
In 1843 a union of Democratic and Calvinistic votes won 
the state election, and George Bancroft became a member 
of the Board of Overseers and subsequently three Calvinists 
were chosen to the clerical and lay elective seats.** In the 
state election two years later this same issue came to the 
front. Early in the spring the Baptist and orthodox Con- 
gregational periodicals began to agitate for a change from 
Unitarian control through the fall election.** The object 


42 Quincy, II, pp. 442-458. 
43 The Christian Watchman, July 4, 1845, p. 106. 
44 Jbid., Mar. 7, 1845. 


224 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


was to make the college more adapted to the middle class 
of the whole state, rather than to wealthy Bostonians and 
students on charity funds; and to do away with denomina- 
tional distinctions in the Board of Overseers, Corporation, 
and faculty.4*® On February 6, 1845, George Bancroft had 
presented a minority report of the committee of Visitation 
to the Board of Overseers, charging that there were few 
students because of the sectarianism and expense; and this 
served as the basis for the campaign to keep the college 
from “ exerting influences adverse to morality and true re- 
ligion.” 4° It was contended that it was wrong for any 
one sect to control, unless that sect constituted a decided 
majority of the electors of the state.47 This from a Baptist 
paper appears to put the argument on a democratic rather 
than religious basis. But the real Baptist purpose was to 
free it from sectarianism, whereas from 1810 to 1843, 14 
out of 15 vacancies in the Board of Overseers had been 
filled by the election of Unitarians. Said the Baptist 
organ: 

‘““We want no sect there, whatever. We want to see it a 
seat of pure, elevated, liberal learning. We want to see its 
Overseers, its Fellows, its Faculty, from President to Moni- 
tors, chosen without regard to religious sect. This is what 
we ask; it is what the people of the Commonwealth ask; 
it is what the interests of learning and religion ask.” *% 

At this time the Corporation was composed exclusively 
of seven Unitarians; of the elective members of the Board 
of Overseers, there were 22 Unitarians, four orthodox Con- 
gregationalists, two Episcopalians, and one Universalist. It 
was suggested that the legislature might demand that the 
Fellows be divided among all denominations.*® The fact 
that a new President was to be elected, gave an opportunity 


45 [bid., Apr. 18, 1845, p. 62. 

46 Ibid., June 20, 1845, p. 98. 

47 [bid., July 11, 1845, p. 110. 
48) 1 bids, MAUSMeTWiT845) Dii 122) 
$9) 1b7d,° Octivied, 1845) 


Withdrawal of State Support 225 


in the fall election to choose state officials who as ex- 
officio members of the Board of Overseers could veto 
a Corporation choice which seemed to favor unduly the 
Unitarians.°° 

The Unitarians naturally opposed this plan and counted 
on the Universalists to help them. They found against them 
in addition to the Baptist Watchman, the orthodox Congre- 
gational Recorder and the Puritan, the Methodist Zion’s 
Herald, and the Episcopalian Witness. But the others did 
not agree with the Baptist view, for they would probably 
have desired an orthodox sectarianism rather than to ignore 
the matter of sect.°t Because of this the Register invited 
the Baptist ministers and laymen “ to a full participation in 
the control of Harvard College,” provided they would not 
aid in driving the Unitarians out.°? When the Divinity 
School graduated 13 theologues, the Recorder said they had 
been educated by the state for the propagation of Unitarian 
Christianity; the Register retorted that they were bound 
to no creed and asked how much the state had contributed.** 
In fact the state relation to the Divinity School was a vague 
supervisory authority and not financial. The Register be- 
lieved that the Baptists would be willing to join the Congre- 
gationalists, Unitarians, Episcopalians, Methodists, Uni- 
versalists, and Roman Catholics in the administration of 
the college, but doubted whether the Congregationalists 
would agree to this.** 

While nominations to the Senate in the county conven- 
tions showed little success in the attempt to wrest control 
of Harvard from the Unitarians,*° it did have Democratic 
party support and at Deerfield the friends of Harvard or- 
ganized an independent party to nominate Senators.°° The 

50 The Christian Register, June 28, 1845, p. 102. 
51 Jbid., Apr. 5, May 24, July :12, 1845. 

52 Tbid., July 26, 1845, p. 118. 

53 JTbid., Aug. 2, 1845, p. 122. 

54 Tbid., Aug. 16, 1845, p. 130. 

55 Tbid., Oct. 18, 1845. 

56 Ibid., Nov. 8, 1845, p. 178 


226 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


result of the election was a failure for the movement and it 
was claimed the Democrats lost more than they gained.*’ 

When the new Board of Overseers met a report was read 
by Chief Justice Shaw opposing a separation of the Divinity 
School from the university, and in favor of continuing chapel 
worship on Sunday.®® The subsequent election of ex-Gover- 
nor Edward Everett to the presidency won universal ac- 
claim.°® After this the Register complained that there was 
too little of the spirit of Christ in the university and that 
the attempt to exclude sectarianism had resulted in exclud- 
ing Christianity more than was proper in an educational 
institution among a Christian people.®° In concluding the 
controversy, this Unitarian organ claimed it was not sec- 
tarian; that four-fifths of the funds had been given by 
liberals who sympathized with the present control; that if 
the orthodox could gain control here the liberals could do 
the same in Dartmouth, Yale, or Bowdoin; that it would 
be disastrous to mix politics and religion by dividing the 
officers among various religious sects; and that if sectarian- 
ism was objected to at Harvard, why did it exist at Williams 
and Ambherst.** 

Defeated in the attempt to oust Tabane through a 
definite state control, the idea of separating Harvard from 
the state began to be broached in orthodox circles.** And 
rather than lose control the Unitarians were willing to give 
up the claim to its being preéminently the state univer- 
sity.** In 1849 an exhaustive study of the powers of the 
legislature over Harvard was made by a legislative com- 
mittee. It reported at that time that no law could be made 
for Harvard, or vacancy filled, without the consent of the 
Overseers, a majority of whom were annually chosen by the 

57 Ibid., Nov. 15, 1845; Jan. 31, 1846. 
$8! [bed.; Janii3t))t846,)pi.10, 

59 Ibid., May 23, 1846, p. 82. 

60 Jbid., Sept. 5, 1846; Sept. 12, 1846. 
SLT DIG WADIA.) 1840. 

62 Tbid., Apr. 11, 1846. 

Oo bid;, Jan. 3%, 184030 Mara 6. 1647. 


Withdrawal of State Support 227 


electorate; but it made no specific recommendations other 
than to say that some changes were needed “ to render its 
admirable resources for instruction in knowledge and god- 
liness more beneficial to all the people.” ** At this time 
the senior class was still studying Butler’s Analogy and 
Paley’s Evidences of Christianity, and there was compulsory 
attendance at daily morning and evening prayers and at 
Sabbath worship.*® 

In 1850 majority and minority reports were brought in 
as to the proper method of making it more beneficial to the 
people. The majority report admitted the consent of the 
Corporation was necessary to any change, but claimed that 
the fact this body was a close corporation inevitably led 
to the perpetuity of a fixed set of opinions in education and 
religion, seldom coincident with the majority opinion. Har- 
vard should be controlled by all the people of the state. 
It would secure this, prevent the control of any one sect 
or denomination, and provide “ security for instruction in 
literature and good morals, corresponding to the judg- 
ment and principles of the people of the state” by in- 
creasing the Corporation from seven to fifteen, with the 
majority chosen by the legislature. The minority doubted 
the constitutionality of the action, thought it would bring 
in partisan politics, and was inexpedient.°° The next 
year Harvard presented a memorial opposing it on the 
grounds of unconstitutionality as a violation of the charter 
and of creating an unwieldy board.*? While the proposed 
change was not made, the legislature did that year provide, 
if the college agreed, to change the Board of Overseers by 
eliminating the Senate and Council as members, and adding 
to the ex-officio members 30 persons, irrespective of religious 
qualifications, to be elected by the legislature.®* 

When the constitutional convention met in 1853, a va- 
riety of proposals were brought forward relative to Har- 

64 Sen. Doc. 158, 1849. Cah A DOG Ou Tosi. 

85 Catalogue, 1852-1853, pp. 43-46, 52. . 88 Acts, 1851, chap. 224. 

66 H. Doc. 164, 1850. 


228 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


vard; among them were suggestions of a corporation of 
seven elected by the legislature, with no religious sect in a 
majority; a board of overseers constituted according to 
the proposal of the convention of 1820; the removal of all 
references to Harvard in the constitution; choice of the 
trustees of all colleges by the legislature, with no religious 
denomination or political party holding a majority in any; 
the separation of all colleges from direct connection with 
the state; or the inclusion of all in a system of public in- 
struction with a general tax for expenses beyond endowments 
and free tuition to residents of Massachusetts.®°? The pur- 
pose back of all these appears to be more democratic than 
religious, but it was plainly desired to prevent control by one 
sect of an institution occupying a privileged position in the 
constitution of the state. A statement from the treasurer 
was secured showing that individuals had contributed to 
Harvard $750,000 and the state $215,797.73, exclusive of 
the annuities from: the bridges over the Charles River.” 
But it was maintained by the state that it, not John Har- 
vard, was the founder and it had never parted with its 
rights. 

The committee was unfriendly to the present control of 
the college and claimed the Dartmouth decision did not ap- 
ply equally here and anyway that the Supreme Court as 
then constituted might rule differently. It reported a 
meaningless amendment which, it admitted, merely made 
express what was then implied or inferential, to the effect 
that the legislature might alter the charter provided it did 
not impair the obligation of contract.’? This power it 
already had. By this means it was proposed to prevent 
it from educating in particular principles or tenets and to 
take its control from one party and from a sect not includ- 
ing one tenth of the people of the state, and then by “ future 


69 Documents, Constitutional Convention, 1853, No. 41, pp. 20-21. 
70° TDi NOL UL ns, 

71 Debates and Proceedings, Ill, pp. 27-35. 

72 Documents, Constitutional Convention, 1853, No. 72. 


Withdrawal of State Support 229 


constitutional legislation, to place the college in full con- 
tact with the beating pulse of the great heart of the Com- 
monwealth.” 7° This convention, it must be recalled, was 
controlled by a Democratic-Free Soil coalition, aided by 
Calvinistic elements of the interior. The ineffective pro- 
posal looks like an attempt to play politics, and would 
undoubtedly have been far more radical if there had not 
been a real fear that any change without the consent of the 
Corporation would not be upheld by the courts. In the 
debate ex-Governor Briggs said he preferred to cut the col- 
lege adrift, but that was difficult and this merely conferred 
on the legislature all the power possessed by the people of 
Massachusetts. Harvard did not oppose, because there 
was no change worth opposing. Several ineffective pro- 
posals to put all the colleges on the same basis were de- 
feated. The amendment was then passed by the convention 
121-28."* But the proposal was defeated along with the rest 
of the work of the convention.”° 

Meantime it was becoming apparent that the state ee 
never be able to secure a real control and when the idea of 
a legal dissolution was suggested to the Corporation, it was 
found ready to consent. A special committee in 1854 con- 
ferred with Harvard, Williams, and Amherst and it was 
found that all favored the dissolution. Hence it was recom- 
mended that the state officers be withdrawn and that the 
alumni be empowered to choose the overseers and that the 
special relation to Amherst in the choice of trustees be dis- 
solved. It was proposed to give no more public money, but 
to give free scholarships on an equal footing in all colleges, 
and to appoint a board of examiners to inspect the colleges 
and raise the standard. The colleges were also to raise funds 
to provide free scholarships irrespective of political or re- 
ligious views of the students. The minority report opposed 
the surrender of trusteeship by the state. This report was 


73 Debates and Proceedings, III, p. 35. 
‘4 Tbid., pp. 36-49, 75-79; 247-264. 
HO Doce sy :TasAa 


230 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


as unfavorable to Unitarian control as the other, however ; 
but it believed that the time had come when scientific attain- 
ment, learning, and religion, not denomination, would be 
the criteria for selection to the Corporation, and it, like the 
Overseers, would cease to be Unitarian. A specific objection 
was made to the choice of overseers by the alumni, because 
it would turn the college over entirely to the Unitarians, 
to spread what the founders deemed heresy. It would keep 
all colleges under state control.’*° The result was that legis- 
lation was postponed for the time being. 

Next an unsuccessful attempt to separate the Divinity 
School from the administration of the university was made, 
so that other sects might not complain that the state was 
propagating Unitarianism. The Corporation with the con- 
sent of the Overseers was authorized to resign its trusts and 
the Supreme Judicial Court to appoint “‘ The Society for the 
Promotion of Theological Education” as trustees of the 
funds and property, in accordance with the will of the 
donors." But this society would not permit the separation, 
because “it would be false to all our traditions, if in a 
college named for a Puritan minister, fostered by a Puritan 
clergy, and bearing on its corporate seal the motto Christo 
et Ecclesiae religion should be the only subject deliberately 
excluded.’?)7* 

The state supervision was finally terminated in 1865, 
when the university assented to an act withdrawing the ex- 
officio state officers from the Board of Overseers, and vest- 
ing in the alumni the power to choose the Board.”® It was 
due to the failure of the democratic desire to put the col- 
leges on a parity and make them responsible to the electo- 
rate, and to the desire of the orthodox to prevent the 
spreading of Unitarianism. Harvard preferred to continue 
to teach Unitarianism and be free from state interference. 


£6 SCM LOG. TRAM OSA, 
Acts, 1858, chap. 176. 
78 goth Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed. 1875-76, Appendix, p. 56. 
79 Acts, 1865, chap. 173. 


Withdrawal of State Support 221 


But the change was not conclusive evidence that the state 
would not promote sectarian religious teaching in colleges, 
as will appear when the subject of appropriations is con- 
sidered. 

A more critical test of the relation of the state to col- 
leges teaching a sectarian religion came when the College 
of the Holy Cross, a Roman Catholic institution, applied 
for a charter in 1849. Bishop Fenwick had founded and 
owned the institution, and had deeded it to the trustees of 
Georgetown College, chartered in the District of Columbia. 
Because of his unfortunate experience when the Ursuline 
Convent at Charlestown admitted Protestant pupils, he had 
made the college exclusively Catholic. He had also reserved 
to the Bishop of Boston the right to educate one student 
in 50 free. The college emphasized moral and natural phi-. 
losophy, mathematics, poetry, and ancient and modern lan- 
guages. The theological class was really not part of the 
college. The discipline was strongly religious, most of the 
teachers were Jesuits, and all students were required to 
conform to Catholic teachings and ceremonies. There 
were daily religious exercises, including mass, and eve- 
ning prayers. Attendance at confessional was required. 
The college had been in operation five years and sought 
incorporation to enlarge its work and facilitate business 
matters.°° 

The joint standing committee on education contained a 
majority in opposition to the charter and they so reported 
without giving reasons. After recommitment a lengthy 
argument in opposition was presented.* The report showed 
a lingering conception of a college as necessarily public ac- 
cording to the English idea, regardless of the source of 
support; and because of this it believed that all colleges 
must be equally open to all persons in the Commonwealth 
who had the intellectual qualifications to attend; it could 


80 H. Doc. 130, 1849; Brownson’s Quarterly Review, new ser., XI, 
pp. 381-383. 
81 Brownson’s Quarterly Review, new ser., XI, p. 372. 


232 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


not conceive of a private college, with no other relation to 
the state than any corporation receiving a charter for 
business purposes. A charter might be similar to that of 
Amherst, prohibiting religious tests of students or instruc- 
tors. Of Amherst the committee said, showing its con- 
ception of the proper relation of the state to religious 
education in colleges: 

“It was incorporated, like all other literary institutions, 
for the intellectual culture of our youth, together with such 
social, moral, and religious training, as might be preferred 
by its patrons, without interfering with its character as a 
public institution, open to the use of all sects alike, without 
hindrance or offence.’ *? 

Holy Cross refused a charter with a religious test pro- 
hibition such as Amherst had, but was willing to accept a 
charter like that of Williams, which made no mention of re- 
ligious tests.*° The committee believed this would make 
it a private, exclusive college for the education of children 
of one denomination, and that Massachusetts had never 
recognized such a principle. The petitioners were not satis- 
fied with the toleration granted to all sects, but wished a 
special favor for their own sect. The whole policy of the 
state was asserted to be to allow “ papists,’ Jews, or any 
others to attend any of the public colleges without having 
to conform to anything violating any rights of conscience; 
no exception could be made in this case. If incorporated it 
would necessarily imply that appropriations would have to 
be made, and this would then be claimed by all denomina- 
tions and prove destructive of the whole educational sys- 
tem. The legislature had no right to grant any charter 
unless there would clearly be a public benefit arising there- 
from. Special privileges for sectarian education were con- 
trary to the principles and policy of the state, which never- 
theless tolerated and protected all the institutions established 
by sectarian influence. A charter for a college of the 


SOTTO DOCH 1 30;) aAQ: 
83 Brownson’s Quarterly Review, new ser., XI, p. 372. 


Withdrawal of State Support 233 


usual type would be recommended, except that there 
was not time to determine whether it was really of college 
grade and whether a fourth institution, to be fostered and 
encouraged by the state, was needed.** 

The minority report of three members of the committee 
of seven showed that the founders of all the colleges had 
belonged to some sect but had professed a public purpose 
and they had been chartered by the state because open to 
all. Amherst did not object to the prohibition of a religious 
test because that was a principle of Protestantism; but the 
situation with the College of the Holy Cross was different. 
No provision for a religious test prohibition had been made 
in the case of Williams, because it was not as yet an issue. 
The College of the Holy Cross would accept a similar char- 
ter and disavowed all expectation of grants. The minority 
would solve the problem by granting incorporation not as 
a regular college, but as “ a seminary of learning ... , by 
the name and title of a college, as a private institution, . . 
designed to promote the convenience and benefit of a par- 
ticular sect.” As precedents they cited the Newton Theo- 
logical Institution, the Andover Theological Institution, and 
Wesleyan Academy, all of which were for the benefit of a 
particular denomination and had no requirements for re- 
ligious liberty. The report further called attention that 
120,000 Catholics, one seventh of the state population, were 
in an embarrassing educational position and that policy, 
wisdom, philanthropy, and religion dictated the necessity 
of conciliation and the removal of barriers. A bill to ac- 
complish the above purposes was reported. It was to be a 
private corporation until it accepted the Amherst religious 
test prohibition and have no other claims on the Common- 
wealth, while the latter had the right of visitation and 
investigation.®® 

A motion was made in the House to substitute the above 
bill for the committee report, under the leadership of Charles 
W. Upham of Salem, who had signed the minority report. 

84 H, Doc. 130, 1840. 85 [bid. 


234 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


The chief advocate for the petitioners was Mr. Healy of Bos- 
ton, but unfortunately his speech has not been preserved in 
correct form. The debate lasted two days and was closed 
by an extensive speech by Mr. Hopkins of Northampton, a 
clergyman educated at Andover Theological Seminary, who, 
as chairman of the committee majority, opposed the sub- 
stitution.®® 

His speech reiterated many of the principles of the re- 
port, but also disclosed more of the real opposition to any 
state promotion of Roman Catholicism in particular. He 
withdrew the word “ toleration,” used in the report, and said 
they might have “ the full and equal protection of our laws.” 
He objected to giving children of eight years of age to 
teachers who were celibates, and to a censorship involved 
in the use of the Douay version only, and said if a fourth 
college were conceded to be necessary by its authorization, 
the state would be “ fairly holden to encourage, sustain, and 
aid it.”” But the main argument concerned the exclusiveness 
of the institution, and he appeared to argue for the principle 
that all religious education should be public in the sense of 
being sanctioned by the state and open to all. The con- 
sequences of this doctrine for Christianity where the state 
was opposed to Christianity would be enormous, or even 
in a State opposed to Protestant Christianity. Mr. Hopkins 
pointed out that at Andover there was only a provision for 
subscribing to a belief in the Christian religion, and that there 
was a legal prohibition of excluding from a degree or the 
privileges of the institution because of a different interpre- 
tation of the Scriptures. In a footnote in his privately 
published speech, he added what he refrained from say- 
ing in the debate, the people desired to give special privi- 
leges to Catholics because they were a large part of the 
population and had votes. This indicates the undercur- 
rent of feeling. Referring to sectarianism in public col- 
leges, he expressed well the illogical principle on which 


86 Speeches of Mr. Hopkins, April 24th and 25th, 1849 (Northampton, 
1849), p. 13; Brownson’s Qr. Rev., new ser., XI, pp. 372-370. 


- Withdrawal of State Support 235 


Massachusetts acted at a time when sectarian instruction in 
public schools was considered contrary to the spirit of the 
law: 

“T deny, that in any odious sense, in any sense prejudicial 
to the public weal —are our colleges sectarian. True, sir, 
there must be some religion connected with them... . 
There never yet was found a community who did not deem 
the mingling of religious and intellectual culture absolutely 
necessary and unavoidable. ... Religion, therefore, in 
connection with our colleges must have some type.... I 
contend, sir, that religion may, and must, thus exist in our 
colleges, and yet no one of them be subject to the charge 
of sectarianism. But when this type is made the inexorable 
rule of the institution, and an attendance on the various 
religious exercises, regardless of the consciences of the 
youth, or of their guardians (required) ... then it be- 
comes sectarian and exclusive. Religion, from being the 
incident of the college, becomes its great end and aim... . 
I have yet to learn, sir, that teaching religion is any part of 
the business of our colleges— that Protestantism, or any 
other ism is any part of their design. If intellectual culture 
tends to Protestantism; if free inquiry is Protestantism, 
then they are Protestant.” 

He made no objection to private institutions for religion, 
but believed the state must not “ found, sanction, or honor 
them.” He feared that if this were granted, the state would 
have to support separate elementary schools for Catholics 
later. He disclaimed objection on the ground the petition- 
ers were Catholics or Jesuits, but in a speech the next day 
answering his opponents, he said they would develop sec- 
tarians “to control the religious faith and conduct of the 
more ignorant masses,’ and asserted the purpose was not 
moral and good, because the Jesuits gave inflexible obedience 
to the Vicar-General, essentially a papal power and a tyr- 
anny. The Roman Catholic religion made men slaves of 
the hierarchy, which held the keys of Heaven and Hell. He 
did not say they ought not to be fostered, but raised the ques- 


236 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


tion. The college could incorporate under the constitution 
as a religious institution, or as an educational institution, 
but not as a hybrid. 

Apparently the majority agreed with the above principles, 
for the motion to substitute was lost 84-117, and the college 
continued without a charter for nearly a score of years.** 

The Catholic attitude was expressed in Brownson’s Quar- 
terly. ‘This periodical denied that exclusive favors or un- 
usual powers were asked, stating the charter would only 
facilitate business matters in doing what they had done for 
five years. It properly drew the line between a state en- 
dowment of a literary institution for the particular benefit 
of a particular religious denomination, and a privately sup- 
ported institution. It believed that in the former case the 
state had a right to say that no public funds should be 
used ; if this was not asked, it had no right to say what type 
of religion should be taught or to whom. In a public insti- 
tution like Amherst, which by this time had secured state 
aid, the state had a right to insist on religious freedom. 
Whether their religion was good or bad, true or false, was 
a private and not a government matter. It pointed out the 
insincerity of the argument that the college was not open 
to all by asking if the objectors really wanted their sons 
educated by Jesuits. It maintained that Williams, Newton 
Theological Institution, Wesleyan, and Andover were not 
denied exclusiveness. Legally this was true, but it was also 
true that in fact there was no exclusiveness at those insti- 
tutions while at the College of the Holy Cross there was. 
But it was also true that in theological seminaries men of 
widely varying faiths had no desire to attend the seminary 
of a rival faith. It was maintained that the legislature had 
no right io give or take away the right to teach religion or 
compel the conformity of students to it. Massachusetts 
had always permitted private education, and respected the 
rights of parents and guardians. A charter did not sanction 
the religion, discipline, or worship, or make it a part of 

87 Speeches of Mr. Hopkins. 


Withdrawal of State Support 237 


the public system of education, and did not add to the 
power to teach. 

Referring to the matter of the common schools this 
Catholic periodical made a statement concurring with the 
ideas of Horace Mann and in direct opposition to later 
Catholic claims that the common schools were irreligious 
and that because education was a unity, the religious educa- 
tion must accompany the secular. It said: 

“Considering the variety of religious views in the state, 
and the fact that the state is bound to treat them all with 
equal respect, the relation of the public schools to religion 
must be negative, excluding what is peculiar to each de- 
nomination, and admitting only what is common to all. 
There is no justice in the complaints which we have heard 
from several quarters, that our common schools are not 
as positively religious as they should be. We are in favor, 
and decidedly in favor, of a system of common school edu- 
cation for all the children of the commonwealth, and we 
are not so unreasonable as to object to the only conditions 
on which such a system can be established and maintained.” 

This argument was used to show the common schools 
would then have practically no religion, and above them 
denominational schools would be necessary for what was 
peculiar to each. The state had no right to deny the es- 
tablishment of the latter, to be privately supported. °° 
This statement was previous to the extensive establishment 
of parochial schools which started about 1850 and it is 
possible the lack of these created a desire to make the com- 
mon schools less objectionable through positive Protestant 
doctrines. The statement would leave the way open to 
object to the use of the King James version of the Bible. 
It is an interesting speculation as to whether, if this Cath- 
olic platform had been strictly followed, a rival system of 
parochial schools would have been avoided and the Catholics 
would have continued to advocate a system of common 
schools for all. 

88 Brownson’s Quarterly Review, new ser., XI, pp. 372-397. 


238 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


Mr. Hopkins replied to this article and stated that he 
was opposed by all the political leaders of the House. He 
pointed out also that incorporation would give the right to 
grant degrees and that this honor was inseparably connected 
with the idea of a fully established and authorized college.*® 

The fundamental reason why the charter was refused ap- 
pears to have been the idea that the state in chartering a 
college assumed a responsibility for its teaching and for 
its support; that it would be expected to give incidentally 
a religious education, which the state should to some extent 
control, even though it might be denominational; and that 
at that time the majority of the legislators were not willing 
to give this sanction to Jesuit education. 

The objection to a religious test, however, was more than 
a mere excuse. The first opportunity of applying the prin- 
ciple of prohibiting these in charters came when Tufts Col- 
lege applied in 1852. It owed its origin to the decision of 
a Universalist convention in New York to organize a college 
and theological seminary in Boston.°° The trustees were 
given authority to determine the course of instruction; con- 
fer degrees except medicine; the income from property was 
to be used to promote virtue and piety, and learning, ac- 
cording to the will of the donors; no religious test for 
students or instructors was permitted; the legislature re- 
served the right to alter the charter and to appoint over- 
seers; and the charter was not to be considered a pledge 
of pecuniary aid.®' Most of these provisions were found 
in all college charters subsequently granted. Under this 
charter the Tufts Divinity School was organized in 1867 
and administered as a part of the college.°? In 1863 a 
second Catholic college, Boston College, applied and secured 
without question a charter similar to that granted Tufts, 


89 Speeches of Mr. Hopkins, pp.. 2-12. 

90 goth Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., Appendix, 1875-76, pp. 
72-76. 

91 Acts, 1852, chap. 141. 

92 goth Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., Appendix, 1875-76, p. 107. 


Withdrawal of State Support 239 


the religious test, however, being prohibited only for stu- 
dents.®* A religious test for the faculty was really unavoid- 
able, as it was a Jesuit institution. At a later date it was 
considered a purpose of the institution to give a good 
foundation in the Catholic faith, and to that end Catholic 
students were required to attend mass daily, recite a daily 
catechetical lesson, attend weekly lectures on the doctrines 
of the church, attend the annual retreat, and confess once a 
month.** 

On the other hand, the Boston Theological Seminary °° 
and the Episcopal Theological School at Cambridge ** were 
soon incorporated without mention of the religious test. 
When the Methodist institution, Boston University, was in- 
corporated in 1869, the prohibition of a religious test was 
applied to both instructors and students; but a specific ex-— 
ception was made, that it should not be applied to the 
Theological Department.®* In 1871 the trustees of the Bos- 
ton Theological Seminary, the largest in New England, were 
authorized to transfer their trust to the University and it 
became a part of the University. 

The state bore a peculiar relation to the Massachusetts 
Agricultural College. It was a federal land grant college, the 
trustees were composed of state officers ex-officio and per- 
sons chosen by the legislature, the course of study was 
subject to the approval of the legislature, but the trustees 
had to secure $75,000 before the land grant money was 
available.°® Chartered in 1864, in the following year a loan 
was extended, to be repaid from the income of the land 
grant.1°° The first president was a clergyman, who mapped 
out the first course of study. He asked for a chapel, and 


US SE 100.107 .4.1503,, ACLS, 150 2; .cnap.) 123. 
°¢ Bush, pp. 374, 375. 

95 Acts, 1865, chap. 167; 1868, chap. 3. 
VONAGE 11807.) Chapin 333: 

97 Acts, 1869, chap. 322. 

98 Special Laws, 1871, chap. I51. 

%? Acts, 178063, chap. 220. 

100 Acts, 1864, chap. 223. 


240 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


the creation of a “department of Political Economy, In- 
tellectual Philosophy, and Christian Morals.” Moral phi- 
losophy was included in the first published curriculum and 
in 1870 Rev. Henry W. Parker was elected as professor of 
mental, moral, and social science and college preacher. In 
1868 a Christian Union was established.*° Thus this agri- 
cultural college closely related to the state by no means 
ignored religion. 

The College of the Holy Cross received a charter in 
1865, like the Tufts charter except that there was no pro- 
hibition of a religious test. The committee on educa- 
tion reported it without comment and it does not appear to 
have aroused opposition.?°? 

Smith College, the first college in the state solely for 
women, was incorporated in 1871 in accordance with the will 
of Sophia Smith. There was no mention of a religious test, 
but the will had provided that it should not be sectarian, 
but evangelically Christian. The daily reading and system- 
atic study of the Scriptures was directed and there was 
instruction in Evidences of Christianity and Natural The- 
ology. The town of Northampton was authorized to raise 
$25,000 to secure its location there.t°? Wellesley College 
was incorporated in 1873, also for women, and without 
mention of religious test.1° 

Subsequent college incorporations are listed below, with 
mention in the footnotes where there was a prohibition of 
religious tests. 

Radcliffe College, Cambridge, 1882.1% 

American International College, Springfield, 1885.1°° 

Clark University, Worcester, 1887.1°7 


101 Sen. Doc. 39, 1866, pp. 13, 14; Sen. Doc. 39, 1867, p. 7; Bush, 
p. 365. 

102 Sen. Doc. 81, 1865; Acts, 1865, chap. 99. 

103°. Doc. §8,, 18715. Acts, 1877, Chap.) 52,71. 

104 Acts, 1870, chap. 85; Acts, 1873, chap. 57. 

105 Manual for the General Court, 1923-1924, p. 352. 

106 Jbid., p. 352. 

107 Acts, 1887, chap. 133. The letter inviting Dr. G. Stanley Hall 


Withdrawal of State Support 241 


Mt. Holyoke, authorized to grant college degrees, 1888.19 

Trustees of Euphrates College funds, a college in Turkey, 
1888.1°9 

French Protestant College, Springfield, 1890.1° 

Anatolia College, Marsovan, Turkey, 1894.1" 

Bible Normal College, 1897.1!” 

Massachusetts College of Osteopathy, Boston, 1898.*"* 

Simmons Female College, 1899.1"* 

Trustees of Phillips Academy changed to Trustees of 
Andover Theological Seminary, 1907.11° 

Jackson College for Women, at Tufts, rg1o.1"° 

Wheaton College, from Wheaton Female Seminary, 
Tors! 

Northeastern University, Boston Y. M. C. A., 1916 and 
1923.118 

Gordon College of Theology and Missions, 1916.'1° 

Emmanuel College, Irish, 1921.1°° 

Atlantic Union College of Lancaster authorized to grant 
Daeseenepree,.=* 

The practice in the above instances appears to have been 


to the presidency stated that there would be no sectarian tests. G. 
Stanley Hall, Life and Confessions of a Psychologist (New York, 1923), 
p. 262. 

108 Acts, 1888, chap. 109. 

109 Acts, 1888, chap. 38. 

110 Acts, 1890, chap. 2095. 

111 Hf, Doc. 347, 18904; Acts, 1894, chap. 106. Here the Puritan 
showed rare solicitude for the Turk in providing there should be no 
religious tests for students. 

112 Acts, 1897, chap. 314. 

113 Manual for the General Court, 1923-1924, Pp. 353. 

114 Acts, 1899, chap. 395. 

115 Acts, 1907, chap. 260. 

116 Acts, rg1o, chap. 632. 

117 Acts, 1912, chap. 84. 

118 Manual for the General Court, 1923-1924, p. 355; Acts, 1923, 
chap. 93. 

119 Manual for the General Court, 1923-1924, p. 356. 

120 Jbid., p. 357. 

121 Acts, 1923, chap. I19. 


242 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


to disregard the question of religious tests except in those 
cases where there was a strong possibility that one might 
be imposed. Thus we may say that the policy of the state 
was in all cases opposed to the granting of charters where 
any sectarian test would be imposed; in the case of Boston 
College and Emmanuel College this was waived with refer- 
ence to the faculty; in the case of Holy Cross it was finally 
waived entirely. 

There were two other incorporations of a supervisory 
character for the promotion of collegiate education. The 
Trustees of Massachusetts College were incorporated in 
Ig10, empowered to make use of the public school and 
Normal School buildings, with local consent, to promote 
good citizenship, and to grant degrees. The State Board 
of Education and all the Colleges were linked in its ad- 
ministration. No test of instructors or students as to re- 
ligious or political opinions was permitted.!*? In 1907 the 
Congregational Education Society was given an additional 
authorization to promote Christian civilization in foreign 
countries and territories acquired by the United States ‘“ by 
endowing, assisting or establishing academic, collegiate or 
theological institutions of learning therein.” 1*% 

State support of colleges after 1837 came in the form of 
the tax exemption, state scholarships, and direct appropria- 
tions. The tax exemption applied to property actually used 
for educational purposes where no profit was divided.*** In 
1853 there were established 48 state scholarships for young 
men, on condition that after graduation they would serve 
as principals of high schools in Massachusetts. They were 
worth $100 and any college of the state could be selected.'*® 
The law did not accomplish its purpose and was repealed 
iba Meet eyed 


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to 


ActSATOFO, Chapyi173: 
Acts, 1907, chap. 143. 
R. S. chap. 7, sec. 53\Acts, 1857;, chap, 56; Acts,\2874,.chapera7ss 
Acts, 1853, chap. 193. 
Acts, 1866, chap. 210. 


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wp wb WS NW W 
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Withdrawal of State Support 243 


At the beginning of the period the application of the 
Massachusetts School Fund entirely to common schools pre- 
vented any grants to the colleges. A resolve in favor of 
Williams College in 1842, after the burning of its dormi- 
tory, failed of passage.*7 But in 1846 a provision was 
made for devoting part of the proceeds of the public lands 
to other educational purposes than the common schools.*** 

Up to this time Amherst alone of the colleges had not 
been aided by the state, supposedly due to “ an influence 
from some quarter or other.’ Now it appears there was 
some disposition to even up, so that all could join in ap- 
plying for some of the fund now available.1?® At this time 
it was claimed by an Amherst alumnus that “ there is a 
special, extraordinary influence exerted at Amherst on the 
students to make and keep them Calvinistic.” 1°° Under - 
these circumstances a resolve was reported and passed for 
the payment to Amherst, annually for five years, of $5,000 
from the proceeds of the sale of public lands.1** In the 
following year the presidents of Harvard, Williams, and 
Amherst presented a joint request that the school funds be 
so increased as to become a regular fund for colleges as well 
as common schools.1** Believing that the interests of the 
common schools and the colleges were the same, ‘“ the com- 
mon interests of Christian learning,’ the committee on edu- 
cation reported a plan whereby when the school fund 
amounted to $1,250,000, grants would be made to the col- 
leges in proportion to the students annually graduated, for 
reduction in tuition, libraries, and laboratories.** But a 
minority successfully pleaded for the superior needs of the 
elementary schools and the Normal Schools.*** The ques- 
tion of religion was not especially involved. 

127 Sen. Doc. 19, 1842. 

128 Acts, 1846, chap. 210, sec. 2. 

129 Debates and Proceedings, State Convention, 1853, Il, p. 548. 

130 The Christian Register, Oct. 4, 1845, p. 158. 

131 H, Doc. 105, 1847; Resolves, 1847, chap. 33. 


132 Sen. Doc. 23, 1848. 
133 H, Doc. 112, 1848. 134 Jbid. 


244 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


In 1849 a public hearing on the request of the three 
colleges that when the $1,000,000 limit prescribed for the 
School Fund was reached, a second fund of half that amount 
should be allowed to accumulate for the benefit of the col- 
leges, was held before the joint committee on education. 
The three presidents appeared, and the principal speech was 
made by Edward Everett, who also appeared for the Harvard 
Corporation, though he had now resigned the presidency. 
He eloquently pleaded the duty of the state to cherish the 
colleges as well as the common schools, and showed there 
was no desire to take from the fund already devoted to 
them.1°> The result was another bill, this time providing 
for a Massachusetts Fund for Public Instruction when the 
School Fund reached $1,000,000. This fund was to increase 
to $750,000, and two thirds of it was to be for colleges and 
one third for Normal Schools, the Board of Education, and 
similar agencies. The only way in which the subject of 
religious education was in any way involved was in the 
statement that the benefit to Harvard would not apply to 
the professional schools, which would include the Divinity 
School.1?® But no action was taken on the proposal and 
instead another $500,000 was added to the School Fund 
limit) ini 18513454 

After this there was no possibility of grants to colleges 
until 1859, when the Back Bay lands were giving a profit 
to the state, and the colleges applied for a share of that. 
It will therefore be pertinent to examine their curricula 
and religious influence about that time. 

The religious spirit of Amherst is apparent from these 
words used by President Stearns in his Baccalaureate of 
August 7, 1859: 

“Never will you forget the religious influence which 
came over your class in 1857. But the great pentecost of 
the outpouring spirit experienced by us all in the winter and 


135 Edw. Everett, Speech in Support of Memorial (Cambridge, 1849). 
etlib s uW OTs fel ap alin pay cey 
A8t Acts, 1851, chap) 112; 


Withdrawal of State Support 245 


spring of 1858, while the whole country was moved with 
simultaneous impulse, you will always look back upon as a 
wonderful period in your history.” 1°8 

The regular regime also included much of a religious 
character. There was some religious course in each of the 
four years, including Paley’s Evidences, Greek Testament, 
Biblical Criticism, Lectures on the Bible, Hickok’s Moral 
Science, Butler’s Analogy, and Lectures on Natural The- 
ology. Each class received some Biblical instruction during 
each year. There was regular worship in the chapel each 
Sunday and daily morning and evening prayers. Every 
Thursday evening there was a religious lecture by a mem- 
ber of the faculty.°® The text on Moral Science is the 
only one which has not previously been described. It had 

a distinctly religious basis and treated of duties to man, 
- nature, and God, of the theory of the state, divine govern- 
ment, and parental government. It assumed the existence 
of a personal Deity.'*° 

At Williams the students were introduced in the junior 
year to Hopkins’ Evidences of Revealed Religion and in 
the senior year to Wayland’s Elements of Moral Science, 
Kaines’ Elements of Criticism, Paley’s Natural Theology, 
Butler’s Analogy, and Vincent on the Catechism. Attend- 
ance at church and morning and evening prayers was re- 
quired.** 

At Harvard there was a somewhat more attenuated re- 
ligious curriculum, but seniors used Evidences of Christt- 
anity by Hopkins, and Peabody’s Lowell Lectures. There 
was compulsory chapel and Sunday attendance at public 
worship somewhere, while breakfast was immediately after 
prayers.**” 

138 William A. Stearns, A Discourse on Educated Manhood (Spring- 
field, 1859). 

139 Catalogue, 1859, pp. 17-21. 

140 L, P. Hickok, A System of Moral Science, (3d ed., New York, 
1874). 


141 Catalogue, 1858-1859, pp. 19-23. 
142 Catalogue, 1863-1864, pp. 33, 38, 48. 


246 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


Tufts was a Universalist college, but the religious texts 
used were the same, namely, Paley’s Evidences of Revealed 
Religion, Butler’s Analogy, and Paley’s Natural Theology. 
Students were required to attend morning prayers and read- 
ing of the Scriptures in the chapel, and to attend public 
worship in Medford or Somerville churches on Sundays and 
days of thanksgiving and fast.** 

The work of all the colleges was therefore definitely re- 
ligious and in the cases of Amherst and Williams of a 
Calvinistic tendency. 

Tufts, in 1857, petitioned for an appropriation on the 
same basis as the other colleges had received aid, alleging 
that it did not in any way interfere with the prerogatives 
of conscience, but allowed a choice of the place to attend 
the required public worship on Sunday.*** They failed to 
get a bill reported that year; but the following year a bill 
which failed of passage was reported, one reason for report- 
ing it being given as that the class now seeking aid had 
never had any, while others had.** 

In 1859 the joint committee on education had before 
them petitions from Tufts, Wesleyan Academy, Harvard, 
and a proposal of the governor regarding a Museum of 
Natural History and the School Fund. A resolve for the 
Universalist institution was reported because without Tufts 
the 100,000 Universalists of Massachusetts were more or 
less deprived of a college education because of the sectarian 
tendencies of other institutions; Tufts was “ neither con- 
ceived in sectarian pride, nor will be sustained with the 
desire to spread sectarian views ;” its purpose was to edu- 
cate those who held sectarian views; the duty was plain to 
grant free facilities of education to all sects, because the 
search for truth would tend to elevate the good and correct 
the wrong; and because while Harvard had received over 
$300,000, Williams $56,000, Amherst $25,000, Bowdoin 
$70,000, and the academies over $600,000, the Universalists 

143 Catalogue, 1860-1861, pp. II-I5. 


144 HT, Doc. 40, 1857. 
145 H, Doc. 113, 1858. 


Withdrawal of State Support 247 


had never had a dollar. Provision was also to be made for 
Wesleyan and for the School Fund. After recommitment a 
second report was presented providing that half the pro- 
ceeds of sales of Back Bay land should go to the School 
Fund; the other half would be used to redeem script issued 
for the benefit of Tufts, Wesleyan, Williams, Amherst, and 
the Museum of Comparative Zoology. Amherst was in- 
cluded because of its services to the cause of learning and 
religion, having sent out by 1853, 415 clergymen, 65 phy- 
siclans, 102 lawyers, 47 missionaries, 61 teachers, six presi- 
dents of colleges, 28 professors in colleges and theological 
seminaries, 15 judges, and seven members of Congress. 
Williams had performed a similar service and by 1854 had 
given the world 472 clergy, 417 lawyers, 118 physicians, 
114 teachers, 66 important public officials. It had exerted 
a strong missionary influence.'*® 

When these Senate bills reached the House finance com- 
mittee, it vetoed the issuance of script, and as finally 
passed the colleges were required to raise a sum equal to 
that given by the state; Williams, Tufts, and Amherst had 
to provide each three free scholarships to be filled and con- 
trolled by the Board of Education; and the institutions 
were to receive from the Back Bay funds as they came in 
not to exceed the following amounts: Museum of Compara- 
tive Zoology, $100,000; Tufts, $50,000; Williams, $25,000; 
Amherst, $25,000; Wesleyan, $25,000. The remainder of 
the funds were used to redeem 1856 script and to increase 
the School Fund.'** 

The peculiar relations of the state to the Massachusetts 
Agricultural College and its religious aspects have been 
described. It also received substantial aid from the state 
and eventually became definitely a state controlled institu- 
tion. In 1865 the town of Amherst was authorized to raise 
$50,000 to erect suitable buildings on the college farm.'** 
The constitutionality of this under the 18th Article of 


146 Sen. Doc. 83, 1859. 
147 H. Doc. 253, 1859; Acts, 1859, chap. 154. 
148 Acts, 1865, chap. 195. 


248 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


Amendments was questioned, but the statute was upheld 
because it was only its purpose to prevent grants to common 
schools not under public control, and grants to academies 
and colleges were not included in the prohibition.1*® Be- 
sides the income from the fund, the college received an- 
nually direct appropriations from the treasury varying from 
$10,000 to $50,000, during the first decade of its history.1*° 
In 1879 the legislature became dissatisfied with annual 
appeals to the legislature to pay indebtedness incurred 
beyond appropriations, and made the trustees personally 
liable for such debts and asked the Governor and Council to 
investigate and report a plan of discontinuance of relations 
with the institution or a permanent relation to the state.>+ 
At this time the institution was requiring all students to 
report in writing during the week whether they attended 
public worship the preceding Sunday and they were in- 
vited to join a Bible class on Sunday afternoons. They 
might select their church home at the Baptist, Congrega- 
tional, Episcopalian, Methodist Episcopal, or Roman Catho- 
lic churches.*®°? The report of the Governor and Council 
was to the effect that the state had in all appropriated 
$255,000 to it and the town of Amherst $75,000. It recom- 
mended that it be made a department in Amherst College, 
which was ready to receive it, and the state have to make 
no more contributions.1°* But this plan failed of consum- 
mation and in 1882 the state appropriated $09,000 for re- 
pairs on college buildings and for a drill house,‘** in 1883 
an appropriation was made for 80 free annual scholarships 
by senatorial districts,°> and in 1884 an appropriation of 
not to exceed $36,000 was made for buildings, part to be 


149 Merrick v. Inhabitants of Amherst, 12 Allen 500-510. 

150 goth Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., Appendix, 1875-76, pp. 
82-83. 

151 Acts, 1879, chap. 258. 

£92 Sere Doc 25, 1 oo0, (DDMA4a.: 405 

TOOT DOGO SL oaOs 

154 Resolves, 1882, chap. 49. 

155 Resolves, 1883, chap. 46. 


Withdrawal of State Support 249 


used for a chapel for lectures and religious services.1°%* The 
last was increased by $45,000 the following year, part to be 
used for furnishing the chapel.** Subsequently the in- 
stitution was definitely declared to be a state institution.1*8 

The opposite policy resulted from Amherst College re- 
quests for funds in 1869 and 1872. Each time the com- 
mittee on education reported a grant, the second time 
affirming that whether the policy of grants to colleges was 
right or wrong, it had never been abandoned.1®® Instead 
of making the grant, the state separated from its share of 
control of the college by providing that the five trustees 
before chosen by the state should be selected by the 
alumni.‘®° This action and the previous one relative to 
Harvard made all the higher educational institutions ex- 
cept the Massachusetts Agricultural College private insti- 
tutions in the modern meaning of the words. The last state 
appropriations to regular colleges of this type were $25,000 
to Williams in each of the years, 1868, 1869, 1870.1% 

The refusal of petitions of colleges in 1911 serves only to 
confirm the fact that the policy of the state then was that 
regular colleges not under the administration of the state 
were not eligible for public funds. Among the petitioners 
was Boston University, which had never had any state aid, 
and but for this rule might have secured aid as a matter 
of justice between all colleges. The religious aspect of the 
matter was put forward in a clear-cut way, and appeared 
to be more of an issue than it had ever been before. Said 
J. H. Benton in behalf of the University, referring to the fact 
that the School of Theology taught according to the doctrine 
and ritual of the Methodist Episcopal church: 


156 Resolves, 1884, chap. 50. 

157 Resolves, 1885, chap. 65. 

SoS Agts.  FUIT) Chan. 31; ACs, IOrs;. cChap.).262, secur Op) ALG. 
308. 

159 H, Doc. 299, 1869; H. Doc. 300, 1872. 

160 Acts, 1872, chap. 340. 

161 Appropriations for Sectarian and Private Purposes, pp. 60-77. 


250 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


‘““ Such has been the policy of Massachusetts. This is a 
Christian Commonwealth and it has never refused aid to 
any university, college, or schools solely because it taught 
the religion of Christ according to the doctrine of any 
particular Christian church.” 

He pointed out that Harvard, Tufts, Mt. Holyoke, and 
Wesleyan Academy had had aid despite denominational 
teaching and that free public libraries supported by public 
money might circulate denominational books. If it was 
right to teach doctrines by books, it was right to teach 
them orally.1®? But times had changed, and while the state 
was not entirely consistent, the time was past when de- 
nominational teaching in private schools or colleges might 
receive public funds. 

But in technical schools the religious element was so 
attenuated *** that two of these received state aid until 
1917. The Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial 
Science, subsequently known as Worcester Polytechnic In- 
stitute, received in 1869 a grant of $50,000 on condition 
that free tuition be annually provided to twenty pupils to 
be selected by the Board of Education; *** in 1896 the num- 
ber was doubled and an annual grant of $3,000 made.'® 
These were available until 1917.1°° Similarly Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology received between 1863 and 1917 
for maintenance the sum of $1,489,040 and from funds 
527.7,004.00.;°" 

Between 1837 and 1917, therefore, in reference to both 
academies and colleges, the policy became established that 
the state would freely grant incorporations, the requirement 


162 Argument of J. H. Benton, Feb. 14, 1911 (Boston, 1911), pp. 
I-25. 

163 Annual Catalogue of the Worcester County Free Institute of 
Industrial Science, 1870, esp. p. 12. 

164 Resolves, 1869, chap. 57. 

165 Resolves, 1896, chap. 407. 

166 Journal of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Dec., 1917, pp. 
13,123: 

167 Appropriations for Sectarian and Private Purposes, pp. 70-77. 


Withdrawal of State Support 251 


that there should be no religious test, however, being usually 
insisted upon for both faculty and students, where there was 
much possibility that a test would be applied. In the case 
of Roman Catholic institutions where the faculty were mem- 
bers of a religious order the test was waived for the faculty, 
and in the case of Holy Cross was finally not mentioned. 
Rather than perpetuate a condition of semi-control over 
Harvard when it was actually under Unitarian control, the 
state separated from its special control over it and there- 
after gave it no funds. Rather than support Amherst finan- 
cially, it also severed the partial control of that institution. 
Amherst Agricultural College was made a state institution 
and definitely supported. As late as 1859 there was no ob- 
jection to supporting denominational teaching in colleges 
and academies, and the non-sectarian amendment did not 
apply to them. But afterward, due to a better system of 
state finance, a new conception of the meaning of a public 
institution, and a changed attitude toward the propriety of 
the state supporting denominational institutions, the policy 
changed so that by 1917 no colleges except the one state 
institution, no academies except in a few cases where the 
towns appropriated and held them partially under their 
administration — an expedient of doubtful constitutionality 
because then the Amendment XVIII applied to them as a 
part of the public school system — and no other educational 
institutions except two technical ones with almost no re- 
ligious influence, were receiving state aid. 


CHAPTER IX 


RELIGIOUS ASPECTS OF EDUCATIONAL LEGIS- 
LATION AND ADMINISTRATION, 1855-1917 


Tuis period started with the legal status of religious edu- 
cation by the state such that funds were constitutionally 
prohibited to common schools not under the direct adminis- 
tration of public authorities, sectarian instruction was 
legally impossible, the reading of the Bible daily was re- 
quired in the common English version and instruction in 
piety, interpreted to mean the fundamentals of the Chris- 
tian religion common to all sects, was legally enjoined, 
while all were compelled to attend this religious teaching 
unless they attended a private school. All Protestants were 
satisfied with this settlement as a general rule; while to 
Catholics it was unsatisfactory. Within these limits the 
exact character of the instruction was within the jurisdiction 
of local committees. 

The Normal Schools were under the more direct adminis- 
tration of the Board of Education. The former religious 
element in the curricula had now practically vanished and 
there was nothing left but the statute requiring daily Bible 
reading, and the study of Mental and Moral Science." 

The local school regulations were also well within the 
law. In 1856 in the high schools of Newburyport the boys 
were studying Moral Philosophy and the girls in addition 
Paley’s Natural Theology, Butler’s Analogy, and Milton’s 
Paradise Lost. There were no studies of a religious charac- 
ter in the primary and grammar curricula.? In the Roxbury 


1 2rst Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1858, p. 18; 29th Annual 
Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1866, pp. 88, 80. 
2 Annual Report of the Sch. Com. of Newburyport, 1856, pp. 12-13. 
252 


Religious Aspects of Educational Legislation 253 


Grammar School there was no religious instruction for those 
in the Latin course, but in the English course there was 
about 1860 a study of Worcester’s Ancient and Scripture 
Geography and Wayland’s Moral Philosophy. By 1876 
the program chart of the Boston Latin School showed no 
periods devoted to religious education. But in the Plym- 
outh High School in 1857 there was still the use of 
Wayland’s Moral Science, Paley’s Natural Theology, and 
the Greek Testament. In addition to the required Bible 
reading each morning in the schools, Moral Science with 
oral instruction by topics was studied in the grammar 
schools.® 

In Marblehead in 1860 the high school curricula included 
reading in the Bible, and Wayland’s Moral Science; for 
the English course Evidences of Christianity and Natural 
Theology; and for the classical course, the Greek Testa- 
ment. Among the reading texts for the grammar schools 
were listed the Bible or Testament, and Hall’s Manual of 
Morals was used.® In the Waltham High School there was 
no religious content, but good manners and morals were 
listed in all the schools of lower grade and the Bible was a 
text in the primary and grammar schools.*. Newton pro- 
vided that the schools should be opened with reading the 
Scriptures and other religious exercises, but the studies of 
the lower grades of schools showed no religious content and 
the nearest approach to it in the high school was Moral 
Philosophy. Leominster listed the Bible in the English 
version among its list of texts and inculcated morality as the 
term was generally understood by this direction to teachers: 

“He should direct his pupils in the path of right and 


3 Dillaway, pp. 100-106. 

4 Jenks, Appendix, pp. 290-300. 

5 Third Annual Report of the Supt. of the Public Schools of the 
Town of Plymouth, 1857-1858, pp. 18-20, 35, 39. 

8 Report of the Sch. Com. of Marblehead, 1860, pp. 29-31. 

7 Report of the Sch. Com. for the Town of Waltham, 1856-7, p. 14. 

8 Report of the Sch. Com. of the Town of Newton, 1860-61, pp. 41, 
45, 46. 


254 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


duty, and impress upon their hearts their moral obligations 
to their race, their parents, themselves, and their God.” ® 

In 1860 the Boston regulations provided that the morning 
Scripture reading should be followed by the repetition of 
the Lord’s prayer by the teacher alone, and the afternoon 
session should be closed by appropriate singing. Daily in- 
struction in good morals was required. In the Latin Gram- 
mar School the religious content had disappeared, but in 
the English High School there was a recitation every Mon- 
day morning in Paley’s Evidences, and other religious books 
used were Moral Philosophy and Natural Theology. The 
primary school grades had no religious books, and the 
grammar grades only Hall’s Manual of Morals.° In the 
Worcester high schools there was nothing definitely reli- 
gious, the nearest being Moral Philosophy in the senior year 
of the normal course for girls and in the commercial 
course.’ Quincy merely recommended that prayer follow 
the required Bible reading in the morning, and teachers 
observe the moral instruction law of 1789.1? 

While the curricula of Medford showed no religious sub- 
jects in any of the schools in 1867, the regulation requested 
the teachers to open school with Scripture reading and the 
repetition of the Lord’s prayer, and required the weekly 
repetition of the Ten Commandments. Teachers were re- 
quired to obey the moral instruction law, and for a system- 
atic course in Christian morals it was recommended that the 
teachers use Hall’s Manual of Morals or the treatises of 
Wayland or Cowdrey.'* Similarly Taunton provided no 
religious content in any of its curricula,.and provided only 
for the teacher repeating the Lord’s prayer after the Scrip- 
ture reading. A practical attempt to better the general 

9 Annual Report of the Sch. Com. of the Town of Leominister, 
1859-1860, p. 14. 

10 Rules and Regulations, Boston, 1863, pp. 29, 50-52, 55, 60-61. 

11 Grizzell, pp. 316-317. 

12 29th Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1866, pp. 255, 256. 

13 Annual Report of the School Committee of the Town of Medford, 
1867, Pp. 9-13. 


Religious Aspects of Educational Legislation 255 


atmosphere of the school appeared in that none might at- 
tend while under sentence at the almshouse for crime, or if 
they used profane or unchaste language, or were afflicted 
with any contagious disease.‘ 

There was therefore no sectarian instruction in the schools 
and the use of the Greek Testament and Evidences of 
Christianity was becoming very rare. There was more 
attention to the teaching of morals including fundamental 
religious conceptions; but the actual results in schoolroom 
practice should not be estimated too highly. The Bible was 
read as required by law, and the general practice seems 
to have been to have little after this except the repetition 
of the Lord’s prayer by the teacher. The Bible still ap- 
peared frequently as a regular reading book. In the high 
schools religious subjects had practically disappeared by 
1884, for George H. Martin then reported that he found 
only a few studying mental or moral science, and “ one 
class studying Christian Evidences, though showing none in 
their conduct.” * 

According to the reports of school committees to the 
State Board, the statute requiring daily Bible reading was 
generally approved by the local committees and there was 
an attempt to introduce more instruction in Christian 
morals. But they had to face an opposition from the 
Catholics which seriously affected the attendance in some 
public schools. In his Abstract of the school returns for 
1856 and 1857 Secretary Boutwell summed up their replies. 

Cambridge reported the opposition to the use of the Bible 
was about to disappear. With reference to the statutes 
which they said required the inculcation of the principles of 
religion and the precepts of Christianity, they commented: 

“This is as it should be... . We claim to be a Chris- 
tian people. ... Remove the Bible from them, and allow 
the teacher to suspend the devotional exercises, the repe- 


14 Rules and Regulations, Taunton, 1869, pp. 9, 22-24. 
15 George H. Martin, Report on the High Schools of Mass., 1884, 


p. 12. 


256 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


tition of the decalogue, and the prayer of our Lord, and it 
would be found that the moral forces now possessed would 
be greatly diminished.” 7° 

Ipswich regarded the deep impression of “the great 
Christian precept, — that of doing unto others as we would 
that they should do unto us” as a necessary part of a com- 
plete moral instruction.1* Cummington believed that Scrip- 
ture reading and prayer had imparted a healthful moral 
tone, and that if the Christian religion were taken from its 
position as the basis of the pervading element of the com- 
mon schools, they would be robbed of much of their power 
of good.’* Lenox reported the Bible read in all schools, in 
some classes used as a reader. At the summer session many 
of the pupils followed a suggestion that they commit to 
memory a verse of Scripture each day, to be recited at the 
close of the afternoon session. A good effect on manners 
and morals was reported.’® 

It is apparent from the above that the religious content of 
the schools was now regarded more as a basis for a civic 
morality of a Christian character than as a direct attempt 
to promote Christianity. In fact in 1858 Secretary Boutwell 
refuted the claim that the schools were immoral, because, 
he said, it was not in any sense true that religion was ex- 
cluded from them. The generally accepted truths of Chris- 
tianity, without sectarianism, were taught in a large ma- 
jority of the schools. He believed that a clearer conception 
and a more practical recognition of the truths of Chris- 
tianity was needed in the public schools, but nevertheless of 
the daily reading of the Scriptures he said: 

“The observance of this requirement is a recognition of 
the existence of the Supreme Being, of the Bible as con- 
taining a record of His will concerning men, and of the 
common duty of rational creatures to live in obedience to 
the obligation of morality and religion.” °° 


16 20th Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1857, Abstract, pp. 185-186. 
1i- Ibid, Pp. 103: 18 Jbid., p. 136. 19 Jbid., p. 145. 
20 2rst Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1858, pp. 59-62, 72-73. 


Religious Aspects of Educational Legislation 257 


The Secretary also presented quotations from committee 
reports to show that they favoured moral instruction. Bos- 
ton desired more moral training,, but deprecated formal 
exercises and careless, concert repetition of the Ten Com- 
mandments.*? Boxford considered teachers sadly deficient 
in imparting moral instruction, but did not want sectarian- 
ism.*?. In Ipswich more moral and religious improvement 
of the young was desired, and an attempt had been made to 
prevent profanity. The Bible was considered the best 
means of spreading knowledge, morality, and religion in the 
common schools, and in reference to the desire of some to 
exclude it, a distinguished orator was quoted: 

““ Never — never, so long as a piece of Plymouth rock 
remains big enough to make a gun flint out of.” *° 

The Monson committee even cast its eyes longingly back- 
ward to the good old days when there was less shameless 
iniquity and wondered if the moral integrity of that period 
was not due to the weekly catechetical exercise by the 
teacher or clergyman in the public school.?* There was a 
similar tone from Lanesborough, where it was agreed that 
the new education was better intellectually but worse 
spiritually. They feared that the desire to banish every- 
thing sectarian would make the schools “nurseries of in- 
fidelity rather than the handmaids of true religion and 
virtue.” They had no confidence in any system of educa- 
tion in which God, the Bible, and the fundamentals of the 
Christian faith were ignored, although they admitted this 
might seem like “ Old Fogyism” to “ Young America.” *° 
To the Easton committee it seemed that the common 
schools had a religious character and influence, without 
dogma, and that the great principles of morality and piety 
ought to be inculcated.*® 

But while this Bible reading and instruction in Christian 
morality was satisfactory to the Protestants, it kept Catho- 


21 Jbid., Abstract, p. 4. 24 Jbid., Abstract, pp. 69-70. 
22 Tbid., Abstract, p. 6. 25 [bid., Abstract, pp. 87-88. 
23 Ibid., Abstract, p. Io. 26 Jbid., Abstract, pp. 105-107. 


258 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


lic children out of school in some places and hastened 
the development of the parochial school system. Secretary 
Boutwell at the end of 1856 called attention to the fact 
that in some places Catholic children had been kept out, 
but believed that it was not general and would probably 
diminish.?7 In Lawrence the Catholic schools had been 
discontinued and 2,279 had been received from them into 
the public schools.** But where Catholics attended in pref- 
erence to parochial schools or where they could not avoid 
it under the compulsory attendance law where parochial 
schools were not available, trouble was sure to result. 

A case occurred in Boston in 1859. Thomas Whall’s 
father had instructed him not to read the Protestant version 
of the Bible or of the Ten Commandments. For refusal the 
boy was expelled, then returned, was scourged and ex- 
pelled with 400 other boys. An unsuccessful suit was 
brought for the boy and then the 400 boys were put in a 
parish school out of which came Boston College.*® The 
City Solicitor had meantime ruled that the power of ex- 
pulsion was vested in the school committee alone.*° But 
such a situation was rendered impossible by a change in the 
form of the Bible reading law in 1862, so that it was to be 
without written note or oral comment and children could 
not be compelled to read from a particular version if their 
parents had conscientious scruples against it.2t This law 

27 20th Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1857, pp. 50-51. 

28 Tbid., Abstract, pp. 14, 15. 

29 Walsh, Religious Education in the Public Schools of Mass., pp. 
TS Ca SAE BPA 

30 Annual Report of the Sch. Com. of the City of Boston, 1859, 
PRR 
A at Gok 1862, chap. 57. The text of the law read as follows: 

“The school committee shall require the daily reading of some por- 
tion of the Bible, without written note or oral comment, in the public 
schools, but they shall require no scholar to read from any particular 
version, whose parent or guardian shall declare that he has conscien- 
tious scruples against allowing him to read therefrom, nor shall they 
ever direct any school books calculated to favor the tenets of any 
particular sect of Christians, to be purchased or used in any of the 
public schools.” 


Religious Aspects of Educational Legislation 259 


made it practically impossible to use the Bible as a basis 
for direct instruction in even the fundamentals of Chris- 
tianity, but at the same time obviated a difficulty regarding 
scruples of conscience. 

A case was decided in 1866 relating to the authority of 
the school committee to prescribe and require participation 
in religious exercises in addition to the required Bible read- 
ing. The plaintiff was a girl of 13 legally residing in 
Woburn, and attending a school where the committee had 
prescribed that in addition to the Scripture reading the 
scholars should bow their heads during prayer. Her father 
objected to this procedure, and the school committee modi- 
fied the regulation so that if a parent requested it the child 
should be excused from participation. Upon the refusal of 
the parent to request this, and his direction to his child 
not to obey, the plaintiff was excluded from school. A 
suit for damages was brought under the law permitting it 
where pupils were illegally excluded from school. It was 
contended that the regulation in form and substance com- 
pelled the plaintiff to unite in prayer and that exclusion on 
account of religious opinions was in violation of law. The 
Court held, however, that the committee had power to 
pass reasonable rules and regulations, that the moral in- 
struction law gave authority to pass a regulation for Bible 
reading and prayer; but this did not mean that pupils 
could be compelled to conform to any religious rite or ob- 
servance, or to go through forms or ceremonies, which would 
violate their religious convictions or conscientious scruples. 
However, bowing the head was not construed as an act of de- 
votion or religious ceremony; it was only a means of secur- 
ing quiet and decorum. Because of this and because the 
parent could obtain release from this act even, on the 
same basis as excuses from reading from a particular 
version of the Bible, it was held that the exclusion 
from school was justifiable and there was no ground for 
action.®” 

32 Spiller v. Inhabitants of Woburn, 12 Allen 127-130. 


260 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


But in a case where Catholic children were severely 
punished for refusing to read from a particular version 
of the Bible, the judgment was against the teacher.** In 
1880 the law was also made more specific by excusing also 
from any personal part in the reading, but to be excused 
in any way it was necessary that the parent or guardian ~ 
should inform the teacher in writing that he had conscien- 
tious scruples against it.** The statute has since remained 
in this form. Secretary J. W. Dickinson in 1882 in com- 
menting on the law said that the duty of the committees 
was performed if they required it as a part of the morning 
devotional exercise and that school committees could use 
discretion as to whether every child who could read should 
be required to do so. This of course referred to cases where 
written objection was not made.** But in any case the 
child would be present during the reading. 

Because of this more or less compulsory element in the 
public schools, the requirements under the compulsory at- 
tendance law assumed significance. The original provision 
for attendance for 12 weeks of children 8 to 14, unless they 
were otherwise instructed or had finished the branches of 
the common schools, was changed in 1873 to require 20 
weeks of those 8 to 12. But they were excused by poverty, 
attendance at an approved private school, attendance at a 
half-time school, or if otherwise furnished with the means 
of education for a like period, if the public school branches 
had already been acquired, or if the physical or mental 
condition made it inexpedient.*® This age was subsequently 
lengthened so that the years 7 to 14 were included.*’ 

These provisions naturally brought up the question as 
to what was necessary for the approval of a private school 
and whether the state should then supervise the parochial 


33 Conway and Cameron, Charles Francis Donnelly, A Memoir (New 
York, 1909), p. 18. 

34 Acts, 1880, chap. 176. 

35 goth Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1881-1882, p. 120. 

SONA cts, 1873,) chap. 270. 

37 Acts, 1874, chap. 233; Acts, 1898, chap. 496, sec. 12. 


Religious Aspects of Educational Legislation 261 


schools teaching a considerable amount of religion. In 1873 
it was provided that the school committee could not object 
to such a school on account of its religious teaching; °° in 
1878 it was further required that there must be as thorough 
and efficient teaching and as much progress in the studies 
required by law as in the public schools, and that this 
teaching should be in the English language.*® 

There had long been a general opinion that the instruction 
in the parochial schools was inferior to that in the public 
schools. The answer of Sheriff John S. Keys of Middlesex 
County to a questionnaire of Secretary Boutwell relative 
to the education received in childhood by the inmates of 
penal institutions was characteristic. He reported that the 
Irish girls had studied needlework and household matters 
and religious exercises, rather than the regular school 
branches, and he doubted whether this constituted “ a toler- 
able education.” *° There was no desire to control the 
strictly religious education of these schools, but there was 
a desire to prevent their failing to give adequate education 
in the regular branches. Besides, the community as a 
whole undoubtedly preferred a democratic system of com- 
mon schools in which all would be taught the same brand 
of Americanism and morality. 

The proposal in Massachusetts to inspect the parochial 
school was also the natural outcome of nation-wide agitation 
of the subject of religious education, especially as it con- 
cerned the Catholics, in the decade following 1875. Anti- 
Catholic zealots who came to constitute the American Pro- 
tective Association naturally used this attempt to license 
parochial schools as one means of thwarting the Catholics. 
The type of education for all the people preferred by most 
Protestants was probably described in the resolution ac- 
cepted by the First Congregational National Council in 
1865, to the effect that all principles of religious and civil 


38 Acts, 1873, chap. 279. 
39, Acts, 1878, chap. 171. 
40 23rd Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1860, p. 63. 


262 Religious Education in Massachusetts — 


freedom had originated from the Bible, and could be main- 
tained only by the general circulation of the Word of God 
through all channels of popular education, and approving 
of the Puritan principle of the reading of the Scriptures 
daily in the schools and pledging resistance to any encroach- 
ment.*t But an entirely different point of view was ex- 
pressed in the Annual Message of President Grant, De- 
cember 7, 1875, recommending the submission to the states 
of a federal amendment requiring the maintenance by the 
states of free public schools for all, and forbidding the 
teaching in them of any religious, atheistic, or pagan tenets, 
and prohibiting any appropriations by states or municipali- 
ties directly or indirectly to any religious sect or denomina- 
tion or in their aid.*?_ Bishop, later Cardinal, Gibbons, de- 
nounced this as reducing the American republic to the 
conditions of pagan Rome, interfering with the sacred right 
of the father to direct the education of his children, and as 
being impossible, since there was no neutral ground be- 
tween religion and paganism.*® 

In the following year there was a sharp discussion of the 
whole problem brought up by President Grant. In Boston 
the Free Religious Association, made up of liberals, arranged 
three addresses on the subject. Rev. M. J. Savage, Unitarian, 
pastor of the Church of the Unity, Boston, asserted that 
it was not the business of the state whether anyone was 
saved in the next world or not. The church claimed ex- 
emption from taxation and the requirement of Bible read- 
ing in the schools only on the basis of present service, a 
moral education for right thought and right conduct. Be- 
cause the Catholic church owed allegiance to a foreign 
power and put religion above morals, and because the 
Protestant church was more interested in other-worldliness, 
it was the duty of the state to provide a moral education of 


41 Congregational Quarterly, VII, 1865, p. 357. 

42 sand Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1887-1888, p. 80. 

43 Allen S. Will, Life of Cardinal Gibbons (New York, 1923), I, 
pp. 160-162. 


Religious Aspects of Educational Legislation 263 


its future citizens.** The Catholic position was stated by 
Bishop McQuaid of Rochester. He again insisted on the 
parental right to educate children in accord with the con- 
science of the parent; opposed as unjust the taxation of 
Catholics, Jews, and infidels for schools in which the Bible 
was read and religious exercises were held; he preferred 
the old Massachusetts system to the Godless schools pro- 
posed by President Grant, and said it was not the fault of 
the Catholics that they were becoming Godless; he asserted 
that, to the Catholic, secularism was as much sectarian as 
evangelicalism ; that the Methodists favored religious teach- 
ing in schools but they and the Baptists were intolerant at 
a just arrangement for Catholics and hence supported the 
secularist demands; that as secularism had broken down 
evangelical claims, it desired also to subdue the Catholic 
claim, which he stated in these words: 

“Tt is not to deprive Protestants of their Bible in their 
schools; it is to educate Catholic children in Catholic 
schools with our own money, under state supervision if you 
please. We do not want Protestant money, nor any state 
money that was not taken from our purses.” 

This virtually meant that the state should abdicate the 
function of education and return it to the church, where 
it had originally been; the constitution of Massachusetts 
would have had to be radically altered to try it out in 
Boston, as he suggested, on the principles of non-interference 
of the state in religious matters, in church or schools; com- 
pulsory knowledge, through parents’ schools, under parents’ 
control, and at their cost; and no monopoly of the teacher’s 
profession.*® 

A week later Francis E. Abbot upheld the secular, non- 
sectarian view, and asserted the real question was whether 
the church or state should control schools. Some non- 


44 Proceedings at the Ninth Annual Meeting of the Free Religious 
Association held in Boston, July 1 and 2, 1876, pp. 54-62. 

45 The Public School Question, Tract No. 5, Published by the Free 
Religious Association of Boston (Boston, 1876), pp. 5-60. 


264 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


Catholics would have the schools assume a Protestant char- 
acter and some would have them neutral; he believed it was 
wrong to have Bible reading in them and to provide, at 
state expense, a sectarian education in Catholic schools. He 
objected to the claim of a parental prerogative superior to 
the authority of the state, and said that if the Bible reading 
were taken out then the state had a right to tax all for 
secular schools.*® 

Just at the time when the Catholics were attempting 
to remove children from public to parochial schools,*? the 
public officials of Massachusetts were advocating the devel- 
opment of a practical system of elementary schools to teach 
morality and citizenship and to offset the growth of a poor, 
ignorant, discontented city proletariat.** The purposes of 
the two groups did not in their opinion harmonize, and the 
result was the inspection proposal. 

The Pastoral Letter of the Third Plenary Council in 
1884 became the basis of the later Catholic attitude in the 
United States on the school question. It was stated that 
no parish was complete until it had schools adequate to the 
needs of its children. It did not complain that the schools 
were then Godless, because it recognized that the teaching 
of religion was not within the province of the state. The 
church would not antagonize the state, but would have 
Catholics follow their conscience to Catholic schools, where 
by becoming better Christians they would become better 
citizens. But it did claim that religion should not be shut 
out of schools, and this by the logic of the situation meant 
that the state should give up education. The Catholic 
schools were to be made as good as any. But the public 
schools were not condemned, and parents who sent children 
to them might not be excluded from the sacraments.*® 


46 Tbid., pp. 61-100. 

47 A. D. Mayo, Governor Butler vs. the Common Schools of Mass. 

48 Ibid.; g2nd Annual Report of the Board of Education, 1877-1878, 
p. 9; Acts and Resolves, 1878-1879, Pp. 704-705. 

49 Will, pp. 262-267. 


Religious Aspects of Educational Legislation 265 


A rapid development of parochial schools in Boston fol- 
lowed this official statement of the position of the church. 
This was interpreted by anti-Catholics as foreshadowing an 
attempt to control the school committee and there was an 
increase of both Catholic and Protestant women registered 
to vote in the school election. Archbishop Williams denied 
that the church had ever in any way tried to promote voting 
by women and said he did not believe the church should 
meddle in politics. Charles F. Donnelly published a state- 
ment, as counsel for the Archbishop, in which he denied 
that the ecclesiastical authority could approve any attempt 
to control the public schools in the interest of religion.°° 

But the anti-Catholic agitation did not subside, and a 
strong fight was made in 1888 under the leadership of 
Rev. Joseph Cook and Rev. E. J. Haynes of the Baptist 
Tremont Temple to require the inspection of private schools. 
In the preceding year a legislative committee had reported 
that the standards of the parochial schools were low, after 
an investigation of the employment and schooling of chil- 
dren.*t This became the immediate reason for the demand 
for inspection, but undoubtedly many of the anti-Catholics 
were thinking as much of controlling the religious educa- 
tion as they were of raising the standard of the secular. 

The official state position, however, shows no attempt to 
control the religious education in these schools. Secretary 
Dickinson expressed more clearly than any of his predeces- 
sors the secular view of the state and education. Starting 
with the proposition that a democratic sovereign state might 
do anything necessary for its well being, he held that a 
system of public schools, organized and controlled and sup- 
ported by the state, was necessary to develop a virtuous, 
intelligent, and homogeneous people. To promote common 
sympathy and an attitude favorable to a common belief 
in general principles, a common training of all in the schools 
of the people was necessary. The state should leave all 
strictly religious instruction of the young to the family 


50 Conway and Cameron, pp. 29, 30. 51 Jbid., pp. 31 ff. 


266 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


and church, and he believed the state would never permit 
a general tax “ for ecclesiastical objects concerning which 
the state has no right to express any opinion, and over 
which it has no right to exercise any control.” He admitted 
there was no theology in the common schools, but denied 
that they were anti-religious. He thought it would be bet- 
ter to have all the children in the common schools than to 
have the state recognize the private schools by inspection.** 
When asked by the House of Representatives as to his at- 
titude, he did not actively favor it and merely insisted that 
whatever inspection was made, it should be by the school 
committee and if this were done the power of the State 
Board to obtain information from the committees should be 
correspondingly enlarged.®* ‘He was, however, in favor of 
a law to require the registration of the children who were 
attending the parochial schools.** 

The chief advocacy of the bill centered in meetings held 
in Tremont Temple every Sunday. There was strong Bap- 
tist support and Rev. Mr. Leyden of the Clarendon Street 
Baptist Church, who had been educated in a parochial 
school, favored it because the teachings of the parochial 
schools were dangerous to the United States and to Massa- 
chusetts. At the hearing, however, the bill was opposed 
by Protestants as well as Catholics. Superintendent Marble 
of Worcester wished only a report of the registration of 
pupils in the parochial schools; he would not do more lest 
the parochial schools be taken under the wing of the school 
committee. President Eliot of Harvard feared it would 
lead to the election of the school committee on religious 
grounds and wished the Catholic population to become rec- 
onciled to the American public school system. Mr. Don- 
nelly brought up the parental control argument and said 
the parochial schools had the same purpose as the old 
schools of Massachusetts, to teach piety; and he denied 


52 sand Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1887-1888, pp. 70-81. 
SSWH NS D0C.) 189, Loco. 
54 Conway and Cameron, p. 54. 


Religious Aspects of Educational Legislation 267 


the right of the state to register, visit, or examine unless the 
state supported the schools. Rev. Dr. Bartol, a Protestant, 
thought the more religion in the parochial schools the better. 
Rev. Edward Everett Hale, a trustee of the Roxbury Latin 
School, opposed because it would be inconvenient for that 
institution.®® Finally a bill was reported to require teachers 
of private schools to keep a register of attendance and re- 
turn it to the school committee once in six months.°® But 
the year passed without any new legislation. 

The demand was renewed before the next General Court, 
with John D. Long appearing for the petitioners. He said 
that it was desired to have children of the ages 8 to 14 
secure the fundamentals of an English education in schools 
under the inspection of the public authority, and to have 
parents free to send their children where they pleased with- 
out ecclesiastical interference. Superintendent Bartlett of 
Haverhill reported there had been trouble there because 
the French-Canadians were being taught the French in- 
stead of English language. Six parents had been prosecuted 
under the truancy law for sending their children to St. 
Joseph’s School when it was not approved by the school 
committee, but Judge Carter had held that any education, 
however poor, was a sufficient substitute. During the year 
14 hearings were held on the bill.’ A question arising 
as to the meaning of the statute then in force, an advisory 
opinion was solicited of the Supreme Judicial Court as to 
whether instruction in an unapproved private day school 
was sufficient to meet the requirement, “ otherwise furnished 
with like means of education; ” and as to whether the provi- 
sion for the teaching in private schools to be in the English 
language before approval meant teaching in all branches 
or merely in the legally required branches. But the Court 
did not regard the interpretation of a mere statute as a 
‘solemn occasion’ requiring an advisory opinion.’* Con- 
sequently the majority of the committee reported a bill 


55 Tbid., pp. 31-86. 57 Conway and Cameron, pp. 86-204. 
56 Sen. Doc. 277, 1888. 58 748 Mass., 623. 


268 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


specifying definitely that the instruction in English was to 
be merely in “all the studies required by law; ” the ex- 
emption for attendance in unapproved private schools was 
phrased “if such child has been otherwise instructed for 
a like period of time in the branches of learning required 
by law to be taught in the public schools; ” and it was 
further provided that each May the school committee should 
take a school census, with the attendance at school and the 
studies pursued in the English branches, and report it to the 
Board of Education.*® 

This interfered in no wise with the teaching of religion 
in parochial schools and was no more than a reasonable at- 
tempt to make the compulsory education law accomplish 
its purpose. But Messrs. McEttrick and Keane presented 
an opposing minority report terming it “ unnecessary, im- 
practicable, and subversive of true education,’ demanded 
by a mere handful of men “ from extreme, unwise, and 
sectarian prejudices against a large and well-behaved body 
of their fellow-citizens.” The tone of the report is apparent 
from the following: 

“Finally, it is impracticable, because the number of 
parents who would be fined, and glory at defending, at so 
trifling a cost, parental rights against what they rightfully 
consider state tyranny, would become so numerous that no 
party, be it ever so strong, could withstand for any length 
of time the wave of execration that would sweep over the 
land against the little puny mountain of bigotry that for 
a moment of temporary insanity disgraced the Common- 
wealth of Massachusetts.” °° 

But the bill became a law“ and the dire forebodings 
were forgotten, for in the case of Commonwealth v. Frank 
Roberts it was held that the above law was satisfied, if a 
child had attended a school not approved by the school 
committee, provided he could prove to the satisfaction of 


59 H. Doc. 504, 1880. 
60 H. Doc. 521, 1889. 
61 Acts, 1889, chap. 464. 


Religious Aspects of Educational Legislation 269 


the Court that he had had proper and adequate instruction 
for the required period in the required subjects, either by a 
tutor, at home, or at an unapproved school.®*? Approval 
of the private schools would then offer prima facie evidence 
that the requirements of the law had been met; otherwise 
the Court would decide the matter. The difficulty of pros- 
ecution under such a plan meant that the parochial schools 
need fear little interference by the state. 

The demand for inspection was therefore primarily due 
to activity by those supporting a wider anti-Catholic move- 
ment; it was not intended by responsible officials that the 
state should in any way interfere with the religious teach- 
ings in the private schools and in fact they opposed in- 
spection lest the state be drawn into closer relations with 
these schools; the law as passed compelled no one to attend 
schools with Protestant exercises if the Catholic church 
provided parochial schools giving the instruction in the 
required subjects. 

From now on more attention to the statistics of the 
parochial schools appears in the Annual Reports. In the 
first year after the passage of the law a circular was sent 
out for the statistics as required by law. 20,000 were re- 
ported attending and it was conjectured there were as 
many more. The parochial schools were growing faster 
than the public ones.*? In 1891 George A. Walton made a 
special report on parochial schools. He found there were 
42,867 children between 5 and 15 years in parochial schools. 
He believed care should be given to the enforcement of the 
law requiring instruction in English, and recommended a 
license for all private schools, certification of teachers, in- 
spection, register of attendance, and annual statistics to the 
city and state departments.** By 1900 the parochial school 
population had increased to 61,570 and it was estimated 
that the cost of educating the same children in the public 


82 159 Mass., 372-375. 
63 sath Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1889-1890, pp. 65-67. 
64 ssth Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1890-1891, pp. 298-305. 


270 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


schools would have been $2,000,000 annually.*® By 1905 
the number of pupils had increased to 78,898 and there- 
after the annual reports of Rev. Louis S. Walsh, supervisor 
of the schools in the Archdiocese of Boston, were included 
in the Annual Reports.°® The curricula of these schools 
included the subjects prescribed by law for the public 
schools and religious instruction. Prizes were given for the 
best papers on the examination in Christian Doctrine, in 
which were asked questions on the Apostles’ Creed, “ the 
sign of the cross,” “ the mystery of faith,” “ the holy cru- 
cifix,’ the meaning of indulgences and festivals, and the 
methods and reasons for genuflexions.*? 

Toward the close of the century two relics of the old 
Puritan system which had become obsolete were quietly dis- 
pensed with. In 1887 parishes and religious societies were 
forbidden to assess taxes on the polls or estates of their 
members.®* In 1898 the old provision of the law of 1789 
that it should be the duty of ministers to use their influence 
to keep the children in school was repealed.*® The com- 
pulsory education law had made their activity unnecessary, 
but it marked a final separation of the schools from ec- 
clesiastical influence and signified that the schools were 
really secular in their aims and administration. 

Provided the Bible was read daily and no sectarian books 
were introduced, the local school committees had jurisdic- 
tion in prescribing more definitely the content of religious 
education provided in the public schools. In 1876 previous 
laws were repealed and the committees given the duty of 
prescribing a course of studies and exercises for the schools.” 
In 1888 the attitude of the Board of Education was that 
this permitted local communities to modify and arrange 
the compulsory studies to suit their own needs. Good be- 

65 65th Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1900-1901, pp. 199-209. 

66 60th Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1904-1905, p. 403. 

67 66th Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1901-1902, pp. 200-205. 

68 Acts, 1887, chap. 419. 

69 Acts, 1898, chap. 496, sec. 36. 

70 Acts, 1876, chap. 47. 


Religious Aspects of Educational Legislation 271 


havior in the list of compulsory subjects was considered 
to include all forms of proper moral instruction.7! This was 
the only required subject that might imply religious in- 
struction, though in 1871 the Board had recommended that 
music be added to the list of compulsory studies, because, 
among other reasons, it inspired feelings of religion.’ 
Whether school committees could include subjects not au- 
thorized in the statute was not entirely clear. When Bos- 
ton began the teaching of sewing the city solicitor took the 
position that it was illegal because unauthorized. The 
Secretary of the Board of Education believed that as it 
was not specifically prohibited and as there was a precedent 
for it in the dame schools it was not illegal.** But to make 
assurance doubly sure, an act was passed authorizing it 
and validating past teaching.’* Similarly in rorz instruc- 
tion in first aid for the injured was similarly authorized.*® 
It would seem that the injunction of the moral instruction 
law to teach piety and the past precedents of religious edu- 
cation in the schools would have justified any non-sectarian 
religious teaching. There would be no doubt of this after 
the law was phrased in 1898 to include “ ethics and such 
other subjects as the school deem expedient” in the per- 
missive list.7° In the required list of high school subjects 
stood intellectual and moral science “* from 1857 until 1898, 
when the organization of the curriculum was left to the 
school committee.7* Secretary Dickinson in 1884 published 
a suggested Elementary and High School Curriculum as a 
guide to local committees. The nearest approach to any- 
thing of a religious character was systematic instruction 
throughout the course in manners and morals.’® Secretary 


71 Sen. Doc. 25, 1888. 

2 34th Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1871, p. 6. 

73 goth Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1876, p. 83. 

1 Acts, 1876, chap. 3. 

SOAs a TOR, CoaD,. 247. 

76 Acts, 1898, chap. 496. 

7 Acts, 1857, chap. 206. 78 Acts, 1898, chap. 496, sec. 2. 

79 goth Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1884-1885, pp. 96-122. 


272 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


Dickinson advocated a type of morality which was secular 
rather than religious, for in 1890 he stated the common 
ends of the public school as being to train the mind to 
discover truth; to train the mind to consider truth to have 
a higher mental value than any other product; and to train 
the mind to choose the highest good. The state had no 
right to give any instruction regarding special forms of 
religious doctrine or worship, but the education did prepare 
the mind “to examine thoughtfully and conscientiously the 
doctrines and forms of belief that should regulate the 
spiritual life.” °° 

The local school committees also had general charge of 
all the public schools and were empowered to contract with 
teachers, after requiring “full and satisfactory evidence 
of their moral character.” 8 By this authority it was pos- 
sible some religious influence might be exerted, particularly 
in determining the faith of the teachers selected. It is 
probable that economic motives and a desire to remove a 
possible cause of discrimination rather than a desire to 
affect the actual religious education in the schools led to 
a proposal in rors to make it illegal for officials to solicit 
from public school teachers any information as to religious 
belief or practice, or to furnish such information to others. 
The Attorney-General had previously ruled the application 
of such a rule to teachers’ agencies would be unconstitutional 
and before passage of this law his opinion was sought. The 
Declaration of Rights prohibited religious tests for office 
holding and discrimination on the ground of religious belief 
and practices. He interpreted these declarations as direc- 
tory and not mandatory, and left it to the General Court 
to determine how far it could go in accordance with them. 
He did not advise that the bill, if expedient, would be un- 
constitutional, except that the clause prohibiting furnishing 
the information to others interfered with private and not 
public acts and hence would deny to the officers the equal 


80 53rd Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1888-1889, p. 220. 
81 R. L. 42, sec. 27; sec. 28; Acts, 1918, chap. 257, sec. 180. 


Religious Aspects of Educational Legislation 273 


protection of the laws. Subsequently the clause objected 
to was removed and a clause was added — “ and no appoint- 
ment to such a position shall be affected by political or re- 
ligious opinions or affiliations.”” This extended the principle 
to those with no religious belief and was held valid.*? In this 
meaning it was enacted in 1917.** 

The question might also arise as to the possible use of 
school buildings for religious educational purposes. Lowell 
in the middle of the century had decided that they might 
not be used for Sunday Schools or private schools.** Legis- 
lation was not specific until in 1911, when cities or towns 
were permitted to authorize the school committee to grant 
the temporary use of halls in school buildings for public 
or educational purposes, where no admission was charged 
and it did not interfere with school needs.*° In the follow- 
ing year this was made mandatory on the committee where 
authorized, and the reference to admission fee was taken 
out.*® This was to encourage the wider use of the school 
buildings and religious education was not especially in- 
volved. Later the whole question was left to the school com- 
mittees, except in Boston, and they were allowed to permit 
the use of buildings for “ educational, recreational, social, 
civic, philanthropic, and similar purposes as the committee 
deems best for the community.” *’ Speeches by candidates 
for public office were later specifically included under civic 
purpose.*® This would appear not to have prevented the use 
of public school buildings for a community school of re- 
ligious education under the auspices of several religious 
denominations, under the terms of the non-sectarian amend- 
ment. The effect of Article XLVI of Amendments, adopted 
in 1919, will be discussed later. 

82 Op. A. G. IV, 418. 

83 Acts, 1917, chap. 84. 

84 Supra, p. 261. 

SOVACS, 1017,.COaDs 207: 

86 Acts, 1912, chap. 320. 

87 Acts, 1913, chap. 391; Acts, 1914, chap. 538. 
88 Acts, 1923, chap. 50. 


274 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


No new principles in the relation of the state to religious 
education were put into practice in the period from 1855 
to 1917, so far as the common schools were concerned. The 
Bible reading law was slightly modified so that no one could 
be compelled to read under conditions which violated his 
conscience, but he still had to be present during the reading. 
The state therefore still sanctioned a policy which might in 
some cases practically compel a person to receive a religious 
influence by the force of the state. Children must bow their 
heads during prayer if the teacher or committee required it, 
unless formal request was made by the parent to the con- 
trary. But aside from this a system of secular ethics and 
morality was replacing the former Christian morality and 
direct instruction in the Christian religion became history. 
Where children attended parochial schools to avoid Protes- 
tant exercises and secure a sectarian religious education, the 
state refused to assume supervision or to license these, and 
merely secured a register of the attendance to help enforce 
the compulsory education law, required the regular subjects 
to be taught in English if approval was given as a substitute 
for public school attendance, and permitted proof on trial 
where the school was not approved. School committees had 
a slight power to provide an entirely non-sectarian re- 
ligious education in the schools, but made little use of it. 
Absolute equality of religions was provided in choosing 
teachers. Instruction in piety and Bible reading were still 
required; non-sectarian religious instruction was permit- 
ted; but with these exceptions the schools were actually 
secular. 


CHAPTER X 


THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION OF THE DE- 
PENDENT, DEFECTIVE, AND DELINQUENT 
WARDS OF THE STATE 


STATE provisions for religious education for those classes 
who because of personal inability of some character became 
the special wards of the state is also indicative of the prin- 
ciples on which the state acted in promoting religious edu- 
cation. From the Elizabethan Poor Law was inherited the 
principle of providing that paupers should, if children, be 
provided with religious instruction. The application of this 
principle in the colonial period has been described in con- 
nection with colonial education. 

The statute of 1793 authorizing overseers of the poor to 
bind out pauper children required the teaching to males 
of reading, writing, and cyphering and such other instruc- 
tion as the overseers thought reasonable. Females were to 
be taught to read and write.t This neither required nor 
made impossible instruction in religion. The children in 
the Lowell Almshouse in 1839 were required to attend Sun- 
day School.? At this institution there was also an appro- 
priation of $100 for the year for religious instruction and 
part of it was devoted to the purchase of 1o Bibles and 20 
Testaments.’ In the institutions for state paupers in 1856 
Governor Henry J. Gardiner stated that religious services 
were held in one daily and in all on Sunday.‘ If the re- 

1 Acts, 1793, Chap. 59, sec. 4. 

2 Rules and Regulations of the Board of Overseers of the Poor and of 
the Almshouse Establishment, Lowell, 1839, p. 6. 

3 gth Annual Report of Receipts and Expenditures, Lowell, 1839, 
DO LO, 41s 

4 Debates and Proceedings in the Mass. Leg., 1856 (Boston, 1856), 
p. 380. : 

275 


276 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


ligious instruction was not effectively provided everywhere, 
the state certainly was not opposed to the principle. 

In the case of adult convicts religious education was 
hardly to be expected, but a law enacted in 1819 made it 
the duty of all keepers of jails and houses of correction to 
furnish every convict able and willing to read, with a copy 
of the Bible, and suitable moral and religious tracts, which 
could be procured from Bible societies or well-disposed 
persons, and to permit access to clergymen “ who may be dis- 
posed to aid in producing the reformation of such convicts, 
and to instruct them in their moral and religious duties.” ® 
The chaplain of the Massachusetts State Prison in 1831 re- 
ported that the prisoners gave better attention in the re- 
ligious services and he believed many were really penitent 
and reformed. There were over 100 in the Sabbath School, 
taught by outside volunteers. This was then considered a 
novel and interesting experiment.® Counties were author- 
ized to provide, at their expense, for Bibles for convicts in 
jails and houses of correction in 1834,” and for moral 
and religious instruction in 1848. Permission to estab- 
lish a Sabbath School in the State Prison with voluntary in- 
structors was granted in 1838.° The Massachusetts Re- 
formatory at Concord for men up to 40 was established 
in 1884 and an instructor, later called chaplain, was pro- 
vided to ‘devote his whole time to the instruction of 
the prisoners and the promotion of their moral and re- 
ligious well being.” +*° In providing for the binding out 
in domestic service of women confined in jails or houses 
of correction, it was specified it must be on terms “ hav- 
ing regard to her welfare and reformation,” but there 
was no mention of religious instruction.1: This would in 
any event be hardly possible. 


5 Laws, 1818, chap. 123, sec. 4. 

6 Sen. Doc. 4, 1832, pp. 23-27. 8 Acts, 1848, chap. 29. 

7 Laws, 1834, chap. 151, sec. 16. 9% Laws, 1838, chap. 152, sec. 3. 
10 Acts, 1884, chap. 255, sec. 1, 27; Acts, 1890, chap. 255. 

11 Acts, 1880, chap. 151. 


Religious Education of Delinquent Wards 277 


In the cases of the reform and industrial schools, which 
received a younger class of offenders, there was more def- 
inite provision for religious training. However, no religious 
instruction appears to have been required by the state in 
the House for the Reformation and Employment of Juvenile 
Offenders, in Boston.'? But at the State Reform School at 
Westborough the trustees were to cause the inmates “ to 
be instructed in piety and morality, useful knowledge, and 
a course of labor;” in binding out apprentices scrupulous 
regard was to be had to the religious and moral character 
of those to whom they were bound, in order to promote 
their improvement in virtue and knowledge; it was the duty 
of the superintendent to train his charges in “ moral, re- 
ligious, and industrious habits.” ** A chapel was provided 
in the institution.1+ Horace Mann said it resembled “ in 
spirit and in purpose, the mission of Him who came to seek 
and to save that which was lost.’1® The State Reform 
School for Girls, later called the State Industrial School for 
Girls, was founded on exactly the same principles.1®° And 
in their execution a decidedly Christian influence was placed 
about the girls. In the first annual report it was stated: 

“Here, certainly, is a missionary ground much nearer 
than China or Ethiopia. These children are not idolaters, 
but they are heathen in so far as any correct idea of the 
Christian’s God is concerned. ... The great object of the 
chaplain and matrons is to secure a living faith in the chil- 
dren that they are always in the presence of God.” 

To this end morning devotions were held daily. A typical 
Sunday included morning devotions consisting of hymns, 
Psalter reading, remarks, prayer, and the Lord’s prayer to- 
gether; in the afternoon there were devotional exercises, 
Scripture lesson, and a short sermon or incidents by the 


12 Acts, 1847, chap. 208. 

18 Acts, 1847, chap. 165, sec. I, 9, I0. 

14 HY, Doc. 2, 1854. 

15 rath Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1848, p. 31. 

16 Acts, 1855, chap. 442, sec. I, 19, 20; Acts, 1856, chap. 60. 


278 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


chaplain; evening prayers were conducted by the matrons. 
At the table the girls were encouraged to repeat a Bible 
verse. Frequently the whole company were in tears and 
confessions were common." 

As in the public schools, this religious training was of 
course of a Protestant character. With the increase in the 
Catholic population demands were made that Catholic wards 
of the state should not be placed under Protestant influence 
and ultimately this was made effective by legislation. There 
was difficulty in connection with placing out the children 
from the industrial schools as apprentices and the law was 
finally repealed.'* In 1904 the following provision was made 
concerning placing children out on probation: 

“The trustees shall bind out children in families or 
homes of the religious belief of such children, but, if this be 
impracticable, then due regard shall be had to the locality, 
and, if practicable, the home shall be such that the children 
shall have the opportunity to attend religious worship of 
their own belief.’ 1° 

The same question arose in the case of destitute and 
abandoned children. In 1904 the State Board of Charity 
decided in placing out children to follow the principle that 
it was the constitutional right of every citizen and his 
family while under the wardship of the state “ to have the 
consolation of instruction in their religion, and to worship 
God according to the dictates of their conscience.” 7° In 
the following year a statute prohibited denying to a parent 
whose child was in the control of any state department the 
right of the child to a free exercise of religion according 
to the religion of the parents, nor should the right be denied 
to a minor child.*! 

Judicial interpretation of the above was given in the case 
of Kate Jamrock, illegitimate child of an unmarried mother, 
who was Roman Catholic and had had the baby baptized. 


LONE VDOC 20;,1057, 20 195 Mass. 190-1091. 
18 Acts, 1918, chap. 257. 21 Acts, 1905, chap. 464. 
19 Acts, 1904, chap. 363, sec. 2. 


Religious Education of Delinquent Wards 279 


The child had been taken by the state on the ground of 
“neglect, crime, drunkenness, or other vice.” The Purintons 
petitioned for adoption and intended to educate the child in a 
different faith. The mother and the State Board of Charity 
objected. The Court took the position that the statute pro- 
tected the right of the child and not the mother, and that 
while the parent’s religion was prima facie that of the child, 
the infant’s welfare was paramount. The petition was 
granted, but it did not release the child from the custody of 
the State Board until they saw fit to do so.2? When the 
Purintons petitioned the State Board to release Kate to 
their care, the opinion of the Attorney-General was re- 
quested and he met the difficulty by saying the statute 
“evidently intended to provide that the child should not be 
denied the free exercise of the religion of her parents when 
she is of sufficient understanding to choose for herself.” 
The Board might use its discretion to release the child or 
keep her until of age. When released the adopted parents 
would get custody.”® The statute itself was ambiguous and 
the decisions hardly made it easier to administer; but un- 
doubtedly the general principle was followed. 

It was also provided that inmates of prisons, jails, houses 
of correction, or public charitable or reformatory institu- 
tions should have freedom of worship, but this did not at 
first prevent summoning all to the chapel for general re- 
ligious instruction, including the reading of the Bible.** But 
in 1904 prisoners were released from attending this general 
instruction, provided such services or instruction of his 
own faith were held in the institution and attended by 
him.?> Appropriations were provided to furnish this in- 
struction and worship.”° 

The state has also paid for the education of the deaf, 


to 


195 Mass. 188, 199, 200, 202. 

3 Op. A. G. 124-126. 

Acts, 1875, chap. 126; Acts, 1879, chap. 158. 
Acts, 1904, chap. 363, sec. I. 

> Acts, 1912, chap. 562. 


oO w NM HN 
oO em & 


th 
os 


280 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


dumb, and blind in institutions where religion was taught. 
At Gallaudet’s American Asylum at Hartford there were 
Scripture lessons and religious instruction for all classes; 
at the Perkins Institution there was no sectarianism, but 
love to God and man was taught and the Bible was read 
daily without note or comment; at the Clarke Institution 
for the deaf the Scriptures were daily read and explained.?? 

Thus the dependent, defective, and delinquent wards of 
the state always received more or less religious education. 
At first this was of a Protestant character, but later provi- 
sion was made that no one should be compelled to attend 
such instruction in other than his own faith, and in placing . 
out children an attempt was made to keep them in homes 
of the.faith of the parents. 


27 30th Annual Report of the Bd. of Ed., 1874-1875, pp. 150-154, 
158, 160, 173. 


CHAPTER XI 


THE FINAL SETTLEMENT OF THE 
SECTARIAN ISSUE 


THE settlement made of the question of sectarian ap- 
propriations in 1855 by Article XVIII of the Amendments 
was satisfactory in the end to neither Protestants nor 
Catholics. To the Protestants it was unsatisfactory because 
it avoided the use of sectarian and left the way open to 
appropriations to Catholic institutions which were not clas- 
sified as common schools. To the Catholics it seemed un- 
fair to forbid appropriations to common schools not pub- 
licly administered and leave the way open for appropriations 
to colleges and academies under denominational adminis- 
tration. But more than this, there was a desire at the 
beginning of the 2zoth century to reopen the whole question 
and secure a place for the parochial schools in the public 
system of schools. The Catholics of the state then num- 
bered over 1,000,000 people, over one third of the population 
of the state, and estimated that they were saving the state 
$10,000,000 in school property and ‘$2,000,000 in the an- 
nual expenses. With the advent of woman suffrage, it was 
hoped to use their plants and personnel in some compromise 
arrangement by which the Catholics alone would not have 
to support the parochial schools. But of course sectarian 
religious instruction in them would be insisted on. A 
further development of the Lowell plan, putting the paro- 
chial schools under public administration but permitting 
nuns to teach religion in them would probably have been 
most satisfactory to them.’ Such an arrangement would 
not have been affected by the Article XVIII, which did not 
forbid teaching denominational doctrines in schools under 

1 Walsh, The Early Irish Catholic Schools of Lowell, pp. 15, 18-20. 

281 


282 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


public control. It would probably have required the re- 
peal of the law of 1827 against the use of sectarian books; 
but it must be remembered that oral instruction was not 
specifically prohibited by that law. At any rate, the re- 
peal of the law might be considered possible. If the Catho- 
lics thought of this possibility under the Article XVIII, 
the Protestants naturally thought of avoiding it. 

In 1896 and 1897 a proposed constitutional amendment 
was presented to the General Court on petition of Fred 
Hanson. The situation in New York and Pennsylvania, 
where public money was going to Catholic institutions, was 
an immediate cause. Professor Henry S. Nash of the 
Episcopalian Divinity School at Cambridge became a leader 
in the movement, which was not secret, and was of a wider 
character than the A. P. A. organization.?, The proposed 
amendment was wider than an educational measure and 
would absolutely prohibit public money to any ecclesiastical 
organization or any institution wholly or in part under its 
control. Schools were not specifically mentioned.* A ques- 
tion arose in the House as to whether this would prevent 
the use of school buildings for public worship, if granted 
equally to all denominations and sects, and the Attorney- 
General, assuming that a sectarian use was meant, answered 
that the amendment was not directed against discrimination 
as between sects, but against any sectarian use and there- 
fore sectarian use by all sects equally would violate it.‘ 

2 Debates in Mass. Constitutional Convention, 1917-1918, I, p. 77. 

3 H. Doc. 428, 1897. The text of the amendment follows: 

“No law shall be passed respecting an establishment of religion, or 
prohibiting the free exercise thereof, nor shall the state or any county, 
city, town, village or other civil division use its property or credit or 
any money raised by taxation or otherwise, or authorize either to be 
used, for the purpose of founding, maintaining or aiding by appropria- 
tion, payment for services, expenses, or in any other manner any 
church, religious denomination, or religious society, or any institution, 
society or undertaking which is wholly or in part under sectarian or 


ecclesiastical control.” 
4 Report of Atty.-Gen., Yr. Ending Jan. 19, 1898. Decision Apr. 2, 


1897. 


Final Settlement of Sectarian Issue 283 


The same rule would necessarily apply to use for religious 
education as for religious worship. 

After 1900 this amendment was presented to the General 
Court annually, with specific mention of the word school, 
except in 1905-1906.° The Attorney-General in 1908 an- 
swered a question of the House as to whether such appro- 
priations were then legal by saying that all taxation must 
be for a public purpose and, though tax exemptions for re- 
ligious societies and churches might be granted, direct ap- 
propriations to them would not constitute a public purpose. 
Appropriations might be made to higher educational institu- 
tions not publicly controlled, but if they were under direct 
sectarian or ecclesiastical control and principally for that 
sect, he did not believe they constituted a public purpose.® 
This opinion, of course, had no legal binding force, and in 
any event endless discussion and litigation would be ex- 
pected in drawing the line between sectarian and public 
purposes. But in the same year the Supreme Judicial Court 
gave an advisory opinion on the constitutionality of a low 
tax rate for intangibles, in the course of which they justi- 
fied exemptions on property devoted to instruction in piety, 
religion, and morality on the ground that the Article III 
of the Bill of Rights and Article XI of Amendments au- 
thorized taxation to procure property for these purposes. 
If taxation was proper, the lesser exemption was proper.’ 
This view was more in accord with the historical Massa- 
chusetts practice and the language of the Declaration of 
Rights certainly indicated that in Massachusetts the sup- 
port of religious institutions was considered to be a public 
purpose. Under this interpretation appropriations to the 
College of the Holy Cross were permissible. 

When the proposed amendment was under consideration in 
1913 the General Court asked an advisory opinion as to 
whether the constitution then adequately prohibited the es- 


5 Appropriations for Sectarian and Private Purposes, pp. 25-27. 
6 H. Doc. 1467, 1908. 
7 Opinion of Justices, 195 Mass. 607, 608. 


284 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


tablishment of a particular religion or the restraining of the 
free exercise of any particular religion; and as to appropria- 
tions prohibited by the proposed amendment then being ad- 
equately prohibited; and as to whether the passage of the 
proposed amendment was necessary to accomplish the pur- 
poses there indicated. The first question was answered in 
the affirmative. All agreed that Article XVIII was intended 
to preserve in its integrity the public school system, and 
that it did not apply to colleges and universities. Hence 
funds might be appropriated for “ higher educational insti- 
tutions, societies, or undertakings under sectarian or ec- 
clesiastical control.’ As to appropriations for aiding a 
church, religious denomination, or religious society, three 
Justices agreed with the Chief Justice in the affirmative, and 
three disagreed.® 

The first legislative roll call on the proposed amendment 
was In 1912, when it mustered only 16 votes. In 1914 Mr. 
Lomasney, a leading Catholic politician of Boston, but not 
a representative of the real attitude of the Catholic church, 
introduced a substitute which was political rather than 
ecclesiastical in origin. It would follow the precedent of 
1855 and avoid the sectarian issue by making it apply to 
all institutions not established by ordinance, statute, or by- 
law of a political unit. For several years both of these 
proposals were before the legislature.® By this time the 
original proposal had come to be known as the Batcheller 
amendment, and in 1915 it was in the field against several 
other proposals.1° In addition to the Lomasney proposal 
there was one of Fred W. Cross which followed the plan of 
prohibiting appropriations to any other than public insti- 
tutions, but excepted payment for services in a private 
hospital and contractual obligations already assumed." 
When the committee reported unfavorably on his amend- 


8 Opinion of Justices, 214 Mass. 599-602. 

9 Appropriations for Sectarian and Private Purposes, pp. 25-29. 
10° He Doc. 1353, 1015} Ht) Doc. 820," 1015. 

11 H, Doc. 952, 1915. 


Final Settlement of Sectarian Issue 285 


ment, Lomasney tried on the floor to get it substituted for 
the report, and though supported by the Donahues of va- 
rious spelling, the Mcs., and Sullivans and Murphys, he lost 
111-116. The Cross proposal received the same treatment. 
The Batcheller non-sectarian amendment was refused third 
reading 107-115, with a solid phalanx of Irish opposition.” 
Just before the final debate Secretary Charles T. Daly of 
the Federation of Catholic Societies of Massachusetts sent 
a letter to the members of the General Court stating that 
the Batcheller amendment was sponsored by those who 
claimed to desire an absolute separation of church and 
state, but were affiliated with a “ notorious, secret, political 
organization.’ It was characterized as “ unnecessary, un- 
called for, and unjustifiable” and aimed at Catholic edu- 
cational and religious institutions which sought no aid, “a 
deliberate and gratuitous insult” to the Catholics, who 
constituted about 35% of the citizenship of the state. 
The Pilot, the official Catholic organ, referred after the 
defeat of the measure to the rancorous debate and asserted 
it was impossible for the most violent bigots to pass it “‘ to 
harass Catholics, to insult them by branding them as pro- 
spective looters of the public treasury.” 14 Doubtless the 
meaning of this was that it was not looting the public 
treasury when taxes paid by Catholics were devoted to 
Catholic schools and taxes paid by Protestants were devoted 
to Protestant schools. Here the Catholic and Protestant 
could not use the same terms with the same meaning. 
Acute discussion on the subject came next in connection 
with the constitutional convention called in 1917 primarily 
to make effective in Massachusetts some of the proposals 
of direct democracy which centered around the Progressive 
Party of 1912. But the sectarian issue was always in the 
background and ultimately it came to hold as much popular 
interest as any of the proposals. As one reason for oppos- 


12 Journal of the House, 1915, pp. 934-938. 
13 The Pilot, Apr. I0, 1915. 
14 Ibid. 


286 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


ing the convention former Attorney-General Pillsbury gave 
the fact that the sectarian issue had been so recently dis- 
cussed in the legislature.*° Former Lieutenant-Governor 
Robert Luce called it a “ mischievous and embarrassing 
factor” in state politics and thought it would ultimately 
be necessary to prohibit to all institutions not controlled 
by the state, the Lomasney idea.'® Politicians wanted to 
get it out of the way, for it was likely at any time to swing 
a state election. 

As the campaign for delegates came on it was apparent 
that the sectarian issue would be in the forefront. The 
Boston Congregational Ministers’ Association, representing 
150 churches, adopted resolutions calling for the absolute 
separation of church and state and supporting the principle 
of the Batcheller amendment.’7 The American Minute Men 
was an organization working particularly for the election of 
delegates pledged in favor of the amendment. Cards were 
distributed in churches and signers were to be kept informed 
as to which candidates for election as delegates were favor- 
able. It was reported that the chief denominational help 
came from the Baptists, the Methodists were next, and the 
Congregationalists not so strongly in favor.’* It was ex- 
pected that the Minute Men would support the initiative 
and referendum, along with the Democrats and the Hearst 
following, in order to use it if necessary to get the non- 
sectarian amendment before the voters.‘? The Massachu- 
setts Federation of Patriotic and Good Government Clubs 
also indorsed candidates at large, apparently to signify these 
men were favorable to the amendment.”° Catholics were also 
advised to study the records of candidates, because “ big- 
ots’ were trying to put through the non-sectarian amend- 


15 The Boston Herald, Oct. 23, 19106. 
16 The Boston Transcript, Nov. 18, 1916. 
17 The Boston Journal, Jan. 23, 1917. 
18 The Springfield Union, Mar. 13, 1917. 
19 The Boston Journal, Apr. 30, 1917. 
The Boston Transcript, Apr. 30, 1917. 


Final Settlement of Sectarian Issue 287 


ment.*? Former Governor Foss facetiously said he ought 
to run well on the issue because “ I have appointed more 
Irish Catholic judges than any other governor, and yet I 
figuratively spanked the cardinal at the 17th of March 
dinner of the Irish Charitable Society.” ?? 

After the convention met the committee on the Bill of 
Rights held a hearing on June 26 on the three amendments 
which were proposed to deal with the issue. There was the 
Lomasney amendment, the most drastic and prohibiting 
funds to all institutions not under government control, ex- 
cept in case of war; there was the George amendment of 
largely the same character; and there was the non-sectarian 
amendment, backed by Fred L. Anderson, Baptist, of the 
Newton Theological Institution; by former Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor Grafton D. Cushing, who had been defeated by Gov- 
ernor McCall for nomination for governor in a fight between 
the A. P. A. and the Catholics in this issue; and by Frank J. 
Batcheller, field agent of the Minute Men.?? Lomasney com- 
pared the extent of aid which had been given to Protestant 
and Catholic institutions and said it ought to be prohibited 
to all if any. Anderson supported the non-sectarian amend- 
ment on the grounds that it safeguarded religious liberty and 
took no money from all for one; that it would take a debat- 
able issue out of politics; that it would safeguard the spiritu- 
ality of the church; and that it would save state money and 
unseemly scrambles.** David Mancovitz, a Hebrew, would 
prohibit for any private purposes, and pointed out that 
Anderson had opposed the passage of the law forbidding 
school authorities from asking the religious belief of pro- 
spective teachers.*° Opposition was voiced by the Worcester 
Polytechnic Institute where three members of the board of 
trustees had to be ministers and the Y. M. C. A. held ser- 

21 Jbid., quoting The Pilot of Apr. 28. 

e-)1 Ora: 

23 The Boston Advertiser, June 23, 1917; The Boston Herald, June 


23, 1917. | 
24 The Christian Science Monitor, June 27, 1917. 
25 The Boston Advertiser, June 28, 1917. 


288 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


vices twice a week in the gymnasium, lest it invalidate an 
agreement for state aid if the college raised a certain sum.”° 

The committee reported an entirely new form of amend- 
ment which in its essential principles followed the Lomasney 
idea. It repeated Article XVIII, and extended the principle 
to all types of institutions, with numerous specific excep- 
tions, particularly in the matter of health, and charity. 
But it absolutely prohibited any state support of religious 
education of a doctrinal character.?’ 

The press comment on this form was generally favorable. 
The Boston Transcript expressed itself as grateful and sat- 
isfied, and believed the bargain should be kept even though 
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Worcester Poly- 
technic Institute were cut off.2* But Anderson believed 


26 The Boston Transcript, June 28, 1917. 

27 Debates in Mass. Constitutional Convention, 1917-1918, I, p. 44. 
The text of the amendment was as follows: 

‘“* Article XVIII. No law shall be passed prohibiting the free exercise 
of religion; and all moneys raised by taxation in the towns and cities 
for the support of public schools, and all moneys which may be appro- 
priated by the state for the support of common schools shall be applied 
to, and expended in, no other schools than those which are conducted 
according to law, under the order and superintendence of the authorities 
of the town or city in which the money is expended; and no grant, 
appropriation or use of public money, or property, shall be made or 
authorized for the purpose of founding, maintaining or aiding any 
school or institution of learning wherein any religious doctrine is taught, 
or any other school, or any college, infirmary, hospital, institution or 
undertaking which is not conducted according to law, under the ex- 
clusive control, order and superintendence of public officers and agents 
authorized by the legislature; except that appropriations may be made 
for the maintenance and support of the Soldiers’ Home in Massachusetts, 
for public libraries open to the public in any city or town; and no such 
grant, appropriation or use shall ever be made or authorized for the 
purpose of founding, maintaining or aiding any church, religious de- 
nomination or society; but nothing herein contained shall be construed 
as limiting the power of the legislature to authorize the performance 
through contract of the necessary functions of government respecting 
public health, or the care and maintenance of such persons as may, in 
whole or in part, require support at the public charge.” 

28 The Boston Transcript, July 6, 1917. 


Final Settlement of Sectarian Issue 289 


this form would be defeated at the polls,” and a speech 
of Monsignor Roche at Watertown seemed to indicate that 
the Catholic church really wanted sectarian appropriations 
and would oppose it.8° Hence Anderson and a few other 
members of the committee reported a minority form of 
amendment,*! which was held in reserve while he conducted 
a long and skillful fight to put the majority proposal in a 
form that he believed would be passed and be effective. 
The Anderson form would absolutely have prohibited funds 
to any educational institution with the slightest degree of 


29 The Boston Advertiser, July 7, 1917. 

80 The Boston Transcript, July 16, 1917. 

31 Debates, I, pp. 44, 45. The text follows: 

“ Article XVIII. No law shall be passed respecting an establishment 
of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, nor shall the state, 
county, city, town or any civil division use its property, or credit, or 
any money raised by taxation or otherwise, or authorize any of them 
to be used, for the purpose of founding, maintaining, or aiding by 
appropriation for in any other manner any church, religious denomina- 
tion or religious society, or any institution, society, undertaking, school 
or higher institution of learning which is wholly or in part under the 
control of a religious body or a religious corporation, whether such com- 
plete or partial control be explicitly expressed in the charter, by-laws, 
or other such writing by some provision that all or any of the governing 
or managing bodies must or may be members of a specified religious 
body or society or must or may be appointed by a specified religious 
body, corporation or authority, or whether, if the control be not thus 
explicitly expressed, it be due to the fact that a majority of the govern- 
ing or managing bodies are members of one religious body or society 
or are appointed of one religious body, corporation or authority. Nor 
shall the state, county, city, town or any civil division use its property 
or credit or any money raised by taxation or otherwise or authorize any 
of them to be used, for the purpose of founding, maintaining or aiding 
by appropriation or in any other manner any school or higher institution 
of learning, whether under public or private control, in which the dis- 
tinctive tenets of any religious body are taught or propagated: 
provided, that nothing contained in this section shall be held to deprive 
any inmate of the publicly controlled charitable, reformatory or penal 
institutions of the opportunity of religious exercises of his own faith, 
but no inmate shall ever be compelled to utilize religious opportunities 
of any kind against his will, or, if a minor, without the consent of his 
parents or guardians.” 


290 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


sectarian or denominational control and would have pre- 
vented support of any institution teaching the distinctive 
tenets of any religious body, whether under public or pri- 
vate control. It made clear that if the parochial schools 
should ever come into the public system, Roman Catho- 
licism could not be taught. The religious freedom of 
prisoners and dependent children was also clarified and 
protected. 

The debate in committee of the whole was entirely good 
natured. The chairman of the committee on Bill of Rights, 
Mr. Curtis of Boston, said Mr. Bird of Walpole in the for- 
mer convention of 1853 asserted the correct principle and 
that it was now desired to go to the logical conclusion.*? 
Meantime on July 18 Joseph Walker and Matthew Hale, 
leaders in the movement for the initiative and referendum, 
fearing lest divisions on the sectarian issue would react on 
their proposals, promoted a compromise conference attended 
by Bishop Lawrence, Episcopalian; President Lowell of 
Harvard; Cushing and Anderson; and John W. Cummings 
of Fall River, a Roman Catholic layman and personal at- 
torney of the Cardinal, who represented the official attitude 
of the church.**? This created new discussions and threat- 
ened to throw a wrench in the machinery. Anderson kept 
getting new concessions from the committee and there was 
a story the Republicans wanted to get it out of politics so 
it would not affect elections.** The Boston Advertiser be- 
lieved the sectarian amendment should be put plainly and 
other institutions should not be harmed. It favored aid 
to Harvard and similar institutions, but not sectarian ap- 
propriations.*® It appeared that Anderson was holding out 
particularly for the insertion of his clause prohibiting funds 
to public or private schools in which the distinctive tenets 
of any religious body were taught.*° 
Debates, I, pp. 50-70. 

The Boston Transcript, July 18, 1917. 
34 The Boston Advertiser, July 23, 1017. 
> Ibid., July 20, 1917. 
36 Ibid., July 24, 1917. 


we 
bo 


cio 


3 
c 


Final Settlement of Sectarian Issue 291 


There was an important debate on July 24, when a new 
draft presented by Chairman Curtis passed the committee 
of the whole.** This changed religious doctrines to denomi- 
national doctrines so that religion in the public schools 
would not be so prohibited as to make them atheistic or 
agnostic. A new paragraph on charities was included and 
also Anderson’s paragraph on inmates of state institutions 
and dependent children. Anderson withdrew his minority 
report, promising to vote for the other if it were not un- 
favorably amended but reserving the right to improve it by 
amendment. He announced it gave to opponents of sec- 
tarian appropriations all they wanted and he did not wish 
to play into the hands of those who wished to kill it. He 
had also received promises of support for it from influential 
men and newspapers. He maintained the proposition that 
the state should compel no act in the sphere of religion, 
the historical Baptist position, and said it was intolerable 
for a Protestant, Catholic, Jew, or agnostic to have to pay 
his good money for the support of another religion in an 
educational institution.** Mr. Callahan of Boston believed 
they must draw the line against the academies, some of 
which received aid from the towns, because they had differ- 
ent religious exercises from the public schools, though they 
were not really sectarian.*® The most significant speech 
was that of Cummings of Fall River, in which he pointed 
out the expense of the parochial schools and said he believed 
an arrangement might be made to have them a part of the 
public school system. He was not willing to tell Catholics 
to vote for this amendment. This speech was the first dis- 
closure of the real position of the church. On the other 
hand, William H. Sullivan of Boston would put out the 
fires which had been lighted and bring all the people into 
harmony.*® In the debate the word denominational was 


37 Ibid., July 25, 1917; The Boston Transcript, July 24, 1917. 
38 Debates, I, pp. 72-77. 

39 Ibid., p. 81. 

49 Debates, I, pp. gI—r01. 


202 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


interpreted by the committee to prevent the teaching of 
atheism and agnosticism.*! 

Many, amendments had to be disposed of. Mr. Bryant 
of Milton and Mr. Washburn of Worcester fought for rec- 
ognition of the legal obligations assumed by the state in 
promising aid to Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, provided they would 
raise certain sums; while Mr. Boyden of Deerfield, princi- 
pal of a small academy, pleaded for those institutions, 
Lomasney opposed all concessions and said if moral obli- 
gations were put in, he would include parochial schools 
under moral obligations.*? 

On August 15 Anderson made a speech warmly support- 
ing the committee amendment. He said he had not been 
able to find a “ joker” in it and was convinced of the ab- 
solute sincerity of his colleagues on the committee. He 
said it was the most popular issue of the convention. 
Practically all the Methodists favored it, the Congregational 
assembly of the state adopted resolutions for it, the Uni- 
tarians and Baptists felt the same. He had never found a 
Protestant clergyman or a Jew not in favor. 100,000 
voters had signed Minute Men cards. The Catholic fol- 
lowers of Lomasney thought the original amendment ex- 
cluded all Catholic but not all Protestant institutions, but 
they believed in the separation of church and state. He 
complimented Lomasney on the fair compromise and said 
if it were not passed he would have to urge the old non- 
sectarian amendment.*® Mr. Pelletier would refuse the 
academies because they had Scripture reading in the morn- 
ing and sang hymns.** 

After the phraseology had been changed to forbid aid to 
schools where denominational doctrines were taught, by 
adding “ whether under public control or otherwise,’ in 
order to make more clear that such teaching was prohibited 
in the public schools; to make clear that institutions re- 

41 JIbid,, I; p. 105. 43 Tbid., I, pp. 159-173. 
42 Tbid., I, pp. 72-143. 44 Jbid., I, pp. 187-189. 


Final Settlement of Sectarian Issue 293 


ceiving public aid must be publicly owned as well as adminis- 
tered ; to add to the exceptions legal obligations already in- 
curred, with reference particularly to the technical schools, 
the amendment on August 22 received a vote of 275-25. 
Cummings voted against and asked a roll call. One Catho- 
lic termed it a “ gratuitious insult to the Catholics,” who 
never asked or expected educational money for parochial 
schools. The Boston Transcript called it a “ constructive 
and just way to carry the sectarian issue out of politics.”* 
To the Pilot, the Catholic organ, it was “ an unworthy com- 
promise,” and the whole agitation had been due to ignorant 
prejudice and racial religious hatred. They blamed the 
third party of compromise, by which they must have re- 
ferred among others to Lomasney, for interfering in a fight 
between bigots and honest citizens, and closing the doors 
against everybody. They believed nobody was satisfied, 
the question had only been opened, and they had been 
flagrantly insulted.* 

Complications arose later because an amendment permit- 
ting taxation for educational institutions had been offered 
by the committee on education.*7 On October 4 an attempt 
was made to straighten out the tangle, with Lomasney and 
Anderson fighting shoulder to shoulder for the integrity of 
the compromise arrangement. Lomasney said only nine 
Catholics had followed Cummings in opposition to the 
amendment, and though he wanted the parochial schools 
to get public money some time, the Catholics had been able 
to get along all right without aid. If aid were to be given 
now, the Jews should also be recognized. The educational 
amendment would give aid to institutions as Protestant as 
the parochial schools were Catholic. Anderson supported 
Lomasney and thought the majority of the Catholics would 
because they wanted religious liberty. But Cummings fa- 
vored the educational amendment and opposed the other. 

45 The Boston Transcript, Aug. 22, 1917. 
46 The Pilot, Sept. 22, 1917. 
47 The Boston Transcript, Sept. 28, 1917. 


204 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


As a way out Anderson moved a tax exemption in favor of 
educational institutions, instead of the authority to tax 
for their benefit.** After amendments had been voted down, 
one to include parochial schools with other educational in- 
stitutions to have the benefit of taxation, and after a pro- 
posal to include Jewish schools had been carried, the Ander- 
son tax substitute was passed and the matter ended. It still 
left in the constitution the special mention of Harvard in 
Chapter V, an innocuous provision.*® 

The new amendment was submitted to the electorate in 
the 1917 election, and became a leading issue. Typical 
of the varied elements which had been secured by the com- 
promise arrangement, it was supported at a mass meeting 
at Ford Hall in Boston just before election day by Curtis; 
Garland, a Catholic; Stoneman, a Jew; and Anderson.*° 
It received the support of the Boston Herald.*1 ‘The vote 
on November 6, 1917, showed 206,329 in favor and 130,357 
opposed.*? 


48 The Boston Transcript, Oct. 4, 1917; The Boston Herald, Oct. 4, 


49 The Boston Advertiser, Oct. 5, 1917. 

50 The Boston Herald, Nov. 1, 1917. 

oh 1 bid Sept. 27," 1907: 

52 Debates, I, p. 230. The amendment was known as Article XLVI 
and reads as follows: 

‘Section 1. No law shall be passed prohibiting the free exercise of 
religion. 

Section 2. All moneys raised by taxation in the towns and cities for 
the support of public schools, and all moneys which may be appropriated 
by the commonwealth for the support of common schools shall be 
applied to, and expended in, no other schools than those which are, 
conducted according to law, under the order and superintendence of the 
authorities of the town or city in which the money is expended; and 
no grant, appropriation or use of public money or property or loan of 
public credit shall be made or authorized by the commonwealth or any 
political division thereof for the purpose of founding, maintaining or 
aiding any school or institution of learning, whether under public control 
or otherwise, wherein any denominational doctrine is inculcated, or any 
other school, or any college, infirmary, hospital, institution, or educa- 
tional, charitable or religious undertaking which is not publicly owned 
and under the exclusive control, order and superintendence of public 


Final Settlement of Sectarian Issue 295 


The effect of the settlement of the sectarian issue may 
now be observed in its relation to state promotion of re- 
ligious education. It prevented the parochial schools ever 
becoming a part of the educational system or receiving 
state aid, while they taught any denominational doctrine. 
It made it unconstitutional for cities or towns to appropriate 
to any academy not under the order and superintendence 
of the school committee, or to pay tuition of pupils there.** 
It deprived all colleges and academies of any aid except a 
tax exemption on their property,®°* and such appropriations 
to the two technical schools as were promised for a few 
more years by resolves in 1911 and 1912, which the Attor- 
ney-General held constituted legal obligations, such that it 
would be an impairment of contract not to fulfil them.®® 

In relation to the common schools, the chief change was 
to make constitutional rather than merely statutory the 
prohibition of sectarian teaching. It now includes any de- 


officers or public agents authorized by the commonwealth or federal 
authority or both, except that appropriations may be made for the 
maintenance and support of the Soldiers’ Home in Massachusetts and for 
free public libraries in any city or town, and to carry out legal obli- 
gations, if any, already entered into; and no such grant, appropriation 
or use of public money or property or loan of public credit shall be 
made or authorized for the purpose of founding, maintaining or aiding 
any church, religious denomination or society. 

Section 3. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent the 
commonwealth, or any political division thereof, from paying to pri- 
vately controlled hospitals, infirmaries, or institutions for the deaf, dumb 
or blind not more than the ordinary and reasonable compensation for 
care or support actually rendered or furnished by such hospitals, in- 
firmaries or institutions to such persons as may be in whole or in part 
unable to support or care for themselves. 

Section 4. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to deprive 
any inmate of a publicly controlled reformatory, penal or charitable 
institution of the opportunity of religious exercises therein of his own 
faith; but no inmate of such institution shall be compelled to attend 
religious services or receive religious instruction against his will, or, if a 
minor, without the consent of his parent or guardian.” 

53 Op. A. G. 1918, p. 39. 

54 G. Li chap. §9, sec. 5. 

55 Op. A. G. 1910, Pp. I0. 


296 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


nominational teaching whether by textbook or otherwise, 
and this is understood to prevent the teaching of atheism 
and agnosticism, but the word denominational was used 
particularly to make clear that the teaching of Christianity 
was not prohibited so long as it was not denominational. 
Hence Bible reading is still compulsory °° and prayer and 
instruction in the fundamentals of Christianity may easily 
be justified under the statute requiring the teaching of piety. 
The exact amount of religion in the public schools is de- 
termined by the local committees, and they have authority 
to approve parochial schools as a substitute for public school 
attendance. In Springfield it is only provided that a por- 
‘tion of the Bible shall be read at the opening session.*” All 
the parochial schools are approved.®® In Worcester the 
State law is quoted and it is recommended that the reading 
be followed by repetition of the Lord’s prayer by pupils 
and teacher.*® Here also all parochial schools are ap- 
proved.®® The practice in Fall River is to have a daily 
reading from the Bible, or the recitation of either the Lord’s 
prayer or a psalm. Almost all parochial schools are ap- 
proved, but two have been informed that their standard 
must be improved to retain approval.** In Haverhill the 
only religious education is that prescribed by the statutes 
of the Commonwealth and parochial schools are not all 
approved.°® The Brockton committee had nothing to do 
with parochial schools and the local regulations prescribe 
the reading of the Bible and the use of the Lord’s prayer 
at the opening of school.®* The above indicates that the 
religious content of the public schools is now in practice 
little more than the bare reading of the Bible required by 
statute. In most cases parochial schools are approved by 
the school committee, but this has no effect on the religious 

56 General Laws Relating to Education, 1921, p. 38. The only other 
states making Bible reading compulsory are Pa., N. J., Tenn., Ga., and 
Ala. — Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1923, No. 15. 

57 School Committee Rules and Regulations, Springfield, 1923, p. 22. 


58 Statement by Superintendent. 
59 Rules and Regulations, Worcester, 1923, p. 29. 


Final Settlement of Sectarian Issue 207 


education, and refusal of approval does not necessarily pre- 
vent them fulfilling the requirements of the attendance 
law for children of school age. 

The Attorney-General has ruled that the new amendment 
did not prohibit appropriations for Catholic, Protestant, 
and Jewish clergymen for religious instruction at state penal 
and charitable institutions, because they were not schools 
or institutions of learning and were under public officers, 
and because it was provided that any inmate should have 
the opportunity of religious exercises of his own faith.°® 
Chaplains of these faiths are therefore employed by the 
state, as well as a Christian Science reader, and they advise 
as well as conduct services. But the amendment made it 
impossible to compel anyone to attend any services. In 
jails and houses of correction the rules adopted by the 
Commissioner of Correction state that services shall be 
provided and prisoners urged to attend those suitable to 
their belief, but spiritual interest rather than compulsion 
must be relied on to secure attendance.®° At the State 
Prison there is a Catholic chaplain assisted by Protestant, 
Jewish, Christian Science, and Episcopalian aids.*t A Bible 
class has been conducted in the Massachusetts Reforma- 
tory.°? During the year 1922 there was expended for in- 
struction in the Massachusetts Training School for religious 
instruction the sum of $5,331.76. In the Industrial School 
for Girls there were 48 Catholic confirmations and eight 
Episcopalian.** In the institutions for mental defectives 
there are state-paid Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish chap- 
Jains, but there is no religious instruction apart from the regu- 
lar services. In placing out dependent children, they are 
placed in homes of their faith and it is the policy of the super- 


OT Pa Ass. Gs 1020,) Pp. 100. 
1 Rules for Jails and Houses of Correction, 1921, p. 8. 

62 Annual Report of the Commissioner of Correction, Yr. Ending 
Nov. 30, 1922, p. 29. 

63 Tbid., p. 53. 

64 Annual Report of the Trustees of the Mass. Tr. Schools, Yr, 
Ending Nov. 30, 1922, p. Il. 


for) 


298 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


visory officers to have the foster mother see that they go to 
church and Sunday School. Parents signify the faith pre- 
ferred and there are no refusals to allow attendance. 

The sectarian issue has therefore now been settled in 
such a way that no state money is now available for sec- 
tarian or denominational instruction anywhere except in the 
case of those who are wards of the state, and here it is 
provided on the same basis as any necessities of life and 
there is absolutely no compulsion. In the public schools 
the absolute s separation of church and state is hardly com- 
plete so long as there is compulsory Bible reading, though 
even here pupils may be excused at the request of the 
parent from taking a personal part. 


CHAPTER XII 


PRESENT ATTITUDE OF RELIGIOUS GROUPS 
ON CHURCH AND STATE COOPERATION 


As THE movement for the exclusion of denominational 
religious educational work in the public schools has devel- 
oped, the religious leaders have recognized the obligation 
on the churches to provide a more adequate religious edu- 
cation and the question has arisen as to the extent of 
cooperation with the state which is proper in the utilization 
of the time and the material equipment available for the 
complete education of the child. This has been a nation- 
wide rather than state problem, and has been brought 
nearer solution in other states than in Massachusetts. 
Something of the attitude of various religious groups to 
this problem will be shown, and the present views and 
practice in Massachusetts. 

The Catholic Church early recognized the necessity of 
a religious education by the church which should extend 
throughout the week. A closer cooperation with the state 
was desired than was possible, after the parochial system 
had been established. Cardinal Gibbons would have been 
glad to have had these schools reserved for Catholic chil- 
dren, but with state supervision in regard to texts, disci- 
pline, class work, and sanitary regulations; teachers ap- 
pointed by certificate as in all schools, but of the Catholic 
faith; instruction in religion before and after school hours 
if necessary and state support in proportion as the parents 
were Catholic or Protestant citizens. This assumed a par- 
allel system of Protestant schools.t Such a division was 
impossible in the American democracy. 


1 Will, I, pp. 472-480. 
299 


300 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


A practical attempt to put into practice something of 
the above idea was the Faribault plan sponsored by Arch- 
bishop Ireland in Minnesota.2, The plan met both Catho- 
lic and Protestant opposition, but at a meeting of the 
Archbishops at St. Louis in 1891 it was given approval and 
Archbishop Williams of Boston said he hoped to see the 
plan put into operation in some of the schools of his diocese. 
Papal approval was ultimately given.2 In 1892 the Arch- 
bishops met in New York and Papal Delegate Satolli put 
forth official propositions, later confirmed by the Pope, 
stressing the importance of parochial schools, but leaving 
the way open for agreements with school boards “ with 
mutual attention and due consideration for their respective 
rights.” * The Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII in 1897 had a 
less compromising tone, stating that all grades of schools 
should be thoroughly Catholic, and expressing the idea of 
the unity of all educational processes, which has since been 
so strongly insisted upon by Catholics. Religion should 
not be taught at fixed hours alone, but all training should 
be permeated by religious principles.® 

Thus Walsh in his Religious Education in the Public 
Schools of Massachusetts in 1904 maintained that the child 
must be taught as a unit, and that it was wrong to divide 
his education into the parts influenced by the church, home, 
school, and street. ‘He would have a school with a Christian 


2 Will, I, pp. 482-485. The essential features of the Faribault plan 
were: (1) the school buildings were the property of the parish and were 
leased to the school committee for use from 9:00 to 3:45, the sisters 
and pastor having full control at other times; (2) the sisters were em- 
ployed as teachers, with the same salary as other teachers and the same 
state diploma required; (3) there was no religious instruction in school 
hours, but the nuns wore religious habit and there was mass before 
nine and after school hours they passed over directly to the study of the 
catechism; (4) Catholics from any part of the city might attend these 
special schools and Protestant children from those districts might but 
were not compelled to. 

3 [bid., I, pp. 485-487. 

4 Ibid., I, pp. 488-490. 

5 Schwickerath, p. 601. 


Attitude of Religious Groups 301 


atmosphere, a Christian teacher, Christian books, and the 
Bible read with note and comment. If the state would not 
pay for education in these denominational schools as in 
England, he would keep up the separate Catholic system.® 
If equality had been granted to Catholics, this Catholic 
educator believes that the Christian denominational schools 
would have continued as formerly. He states that the 
Lowell Plan, “ rightly developed, improved, and applied,” 
would have met reasonable needs.? Similarly Robert 
Schwickerath, in his Jesuit Education, claims that it is 
wrong to separate religious instruction from the general in- 
struction of the public schools, and points out that reform 
of character by the training of the will is more important 
than intellectual accomplishments. Christ rather than a 
mere system of morals or ethics is to be made the center of 
all education. Sunday School instruction was considered in- 
sufficient and the objection to the non-sectarian school was 
not what was taught but what was not taught. Mere Bible 
reading was considered insufficient, for there should be ex- 
planation of its meaning and all subjects should be taught 
with a religious aim.’ Burns in The Catholic School Sys- 
tem in the United States again emphasizes moral training or 
the education of the will rather than mere knowledge. 
To this end religious instruction in the school has more 
value than religious instruction in church or Sunday School 
because it is more natural to link the secular and religious 
in this way.® 

From the above views it is clear that the Catholic church 
is definitely opposed to any system of codperation which 
would leave all religious education to the church and all 
secular education to the state, with points of intimate con- 
tact in the use of time and equipment. It is a fallacy to 


6 Walsh, Religious Education in the Public Schools of Massachusetts, 
pp. 114-116. 

T [bid., pp. 108-111. 

8 Schwickerath, pp. 522-607. 

® Burns, pp. 13-33. 


302 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


assume that if there were no Bible reading or similar re- 
ligious exercises in the schools, the Catholics would abandon 
their parochial system. Their claim is for a church system 
of denominational schools with state supervision and state 
support, a claim which is impossible of fulfillment. Because 
they thus claim the necessity of a unified educative process, 
it makes it practically impossible for them to codperate in 
the modern idea of secular state education and week-day 
religious education under the auspices of the church. 

The Jews are more insistent on a separation of church 
and state than the Catholics, and do not insist that all edu- 
cation must be under religious auspices. Hence they favor 
the entire exclusion of religion from the schools, and a sys- 
tem of church schools for the teaching of religion only. In 
general they would keep the two systems entirely separate. 
The standard statement on the subject by the entire liberal 
Jewish ministry of America was made by the Central Con- 
ference of American Rabbis, entitled Why the Bible Should 
not be Read in the Public Schools. The fundamental basis 
for this is the separation of the church and the state. The 
purpose of the school is secular and of Bible reading, 
prayer, and hymns is religious. If the Bible is read the 
Jews would want the Lesser version of the Old Testament 
only and as others would not want this they believe that 
any reading becomes necessarily sectarian and that the 
teachers of religion must be so. Ordinary school teachers 
are not qualified to read the Bible and teach it; an atheist 
would read it cynically. Any reading leads to sectarian in- 
struction and exercises, and should be prohibited.1? This 
is still the Jewish attitude and implies no cooperation of 
church and state in any educational way. Says Rabbi 
Harry Levi, a leading liberal Jew of Massachusetts : 

“T have always had a very definite feeling that the whole 
matter of religious instruction, including the study of the 
Bible, should be left as Grant said long ago, ‘ to the home, 


10 Why the Bible Should not be Read in the Public Schools (New 
York, 1906). 


Attitude of Religious Groups 303 


the church and the religious school.’ Under existing con- 
ditions it seems impossible to teach religion or the Bible, 
without presenting both in a denominational way. If we 
are to keep church and state apart, if we are to safeguard 
the religious rights of all, then we must definitely keep 
church and school apart.” % 

Among Protestants the lessening of religious content in 
the public schools led to many resolutions in church as- 
semblages for better Sunday School work in the church. But 
in time it came to be realized that this in itself could never 
be sufficient. A significant statement by a member of the 
Protestant Episcopal church was made in an essay by Phil- 
lips Brooks, in which he recognized that the religion in the 
public schools had been cut down to a mere formal Scripture 
reading, a mere dead symbol. He opposed the Catholic 
idea of church schools, opposed giving education back to the 
church without state support, and thought the only other 
possibility “ the secular school pure and simple, the school 
where the Bible is not read nor any religious instruction 
given.” It was a distressing situation and unavoidable, 
but the church must do better in its Sunday Schools.” 
This was a long step from the ideas of Edward A. Newton 
a half century earlier. 

In 1903 the American Unitarian Association published 
at Boston Crooker’s Religious Freedom in American Edu- 
cation. He took the position that the government was 
neither Christian nor infidel, but simply non-religious. On 
this basis he carried to its logical conclusion the theory of 
the separation of church and state and opposed all religious 
influences in the schools of whatever character. He claimed 
the Roman Catholic argument against secular schools was 
really an argument against the secular state and for the 
superiority of spiritual over temporal power. He believed 
it was impossible to teach in school different faiths accord- 

11 Letter from Rabbi Harry Levi, Aug. 18, 1924. 


12 Phillips Brooks, Essays and Addresses (New York, 1895), pp. 519- 
520. 


304 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


ing to families and that the money should not be divided 
among denominational schools. The parent had the right 
to control the religion of the child and the state to educate 
the child for its need. He opposed a proposal of President 
Jacob G. Schurman of Cornell University that religious in- 
struction be given by clergy of different faiths in school 
time, for practical reasons and because the state had no 
right to use its time and property for religious instruction. 
Under these conditions of exclusion he believed that parents 
and teachers in the churches would awake to their respon- 
sibility and the child would get a new idea of the Bible 
and the church. He did not agree with the Catholic view 
that all education must be treated as a unit, but would 
divide the task between the state and the church.” 

A somewhat different plan based on the interpretations of 
the meanings of the separation of church and state and of 
the unity of education was made by Coe in 1904. He was 
a professor in Northwestern University, a Methodist in- 
stitution. He accepted the Catholic view of the unity of 
the education of the whole child, but applied the separation 
of church and state only to sectarianism. He would have 
common schools for all the people giving a friendly recogni- 
tion to the home and church teaching of the various sects 
and assuming as true all that was common to all. On the 
foundation of the religious instruction of the church, the 
Catholic, Protestant or Jewish public school teachers chosen 
with reference to their spiritual influence would build a 
character development in the pupils. The restoration of 
formal Bible reading and religious teaching was not prima- 
rily sought. While the Faribault plan was opposed as 
favoritism to one sect, the use of the school building by all 
denominations for religious instruction was favored and the 
religious and secular aspects were to be considered one sys- 
tem with common ideals, a unity.** It is apparent, however, 


13 Crooker, especially pp. 14-64, 183-216. 
14 George A. Coe, Education in Religion and Morals (New York, 
1904), esp. Pp. 350-369. 


Attitude of Religious Groups 305 


that this definition of a unified education would not be ac- 
cepted by the Catholics. But it did mark a positive step in 
the attempt to work out a system of codperation of church 
and state schools. 

At the National Council of Congregational Churches in 
Cleveland, October 11, 1907, President G. Stanley Hall of 
Clark University pointed out that the separation of church 
and state, while a great, was not an unmixed good, for it 
had abolished from the public school system that religious 
training which was indispensable to the adolescent age. 
The result was that secular schools were not properly devel- 
oping morality and abating superstition. The moral in- 
fluence of history and good music, the good example of the 
teacher would not suffice. He then explained the German 
system of enforcing religious teaching in the schools with 
Catholic, Lutheran, and Jewish teachers of religion, nom- 
inated by the religious groups, examined and paid by the 
State, and doing their teaching in state buildings. He feared 
that if the Protestant sects in America could not agree upon 
such a plan, public education here could not again be 
brought under religious influence. He would have the 
churches unite in a program of week-day religious educa- 
tion, omitting doctrinal points of conflict. The religion of the 
schools had become patriotism, and he would have the church 
resume its lost functions.’® 

Out of these various theories and because of the need 
which their discussion signified, it finally came to be ac- 
cepted by religious educational leaders among Protestants 
that the school could not teach religion and that the church 
must. To accomplish this and preserve so far as possible 
the unity of the educative process in connection with the 
public school, there have been developed the plans of church 
vacation schools, academic credit for religious instruction 
under church auspices, and week-day religious schools in 
churches working on school time. It has been found pos- 


15 G, Stanley Hall, The Relation of the Church to Education, in 
Ped. Sem., June 1908, pp. 186-196. 


306 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


sible to secure the codperation of Jews and Catholics in 
these plans in some places. After 1908 the State University 
of Iowa gave credit for voluntary courses given by local 
clergymen without pay. Denominations have also estab- 
lished Bible chairs in denominational houses on the cam- 
pus of state universities. The Greeley Plan was put into 
effect in the State Teachers’ College of Colorado in 1910, 
the college giving credit after college inspection of work, 
for a four years’ course of Bible study in the community 
churches, including in the first year of work 60 Roman 
Catholic students. Plans for state credit for high school 
Bible work under the auspices of the State Sunday School 
Association have been worked out in a number of states. 
Modifications of the plan are used in other states or in- 
dividual cities. In a few cases it has been applied to elemen- 
tary schools. The Wenner and Gary plans of sharing the 
time of the child between the public school and the church 
school were also developed. The former asked that the 
public schools be closed every Wednesday afternoon in 
imitation of the French system, to allow the children to go 
to the church of their faith for religious instruction. It 
has been endorsed by the Federal Council of Churches. 
The Gary plan is made possible by the three platoon system 
in the schedule of the school, so that children during the 
play periods may at the direction of parents be sent to their 
church school. Roman Catholics and both Orthodox and 
liberal Jews provided educational work as well as Protestant 
churches.’® 

The chief contribution from Massachusetts to this move- 
ment for codperation of church and state has been the Mal- 
den plan, developed at Malden, Mass., under the leadership 
of Professor Walter S. Athearn, a member of the Christian 
or Disciples denomination and head of the School of Re- 
ligious Education of Boston University. The aim of this 
plan is the development of a community system of religious 


16 Walter S. Athearn, Religious Education and American Democracy 
(Boston, 1917), pp. 27-135. 


Attitude of Religious Groups 307 


education to parallel the public system of education and to 
provide as high a standard of work. The plan is entirely 
non-denominational, and organized on the basis of freedom 
of denominational control. A Malden Council of Religious 
Education was organized to assume community responsi- 
bility, and to secure a proper division of the time of the 
pupil between the public schools and the church schools, and 
promote harmonious relations between them. But the school 
seeks no public funds. In the system will be included Sun- 
day Schools, week-day church schools, vacation schools, and 
a community school of religious education, all under the 
direction of a community superintendent of religious educa- 
tion. Above the community council the plan involves a 
series of associations similar to those among public school 
administrators and teachers. The Malden community school 
had in 1917 a faculty of 12 and an enrollment of 445 stu- 
dents. The plan also includes an ascending series of insti- 
tutions of secondary, college, and university grade.*’ For 
the season 1923-1924 the week-day church schools provided 
courses for all elementary grades and for the junior and 
senior high school ages. There was a faculty of six college 
graduates all of whom were specialists in religious education. 
No credit was given by the public schools and classes were 
held just after the closing time of the public schools, or at 
an hour that did not conflict.*® 

Investigation has failed to reveal any place in Massachu- 
setts where either excuses from school to attend schools of 
religious education are granted or school credit is given for 
the work done. In Malden it was refused by the school 
committee. Opposition to such state connection with the 
plan comes from Jews, Christian Scientists, and Catholics.’® 

In Worcester there has been a Central Day School of Re- 
ligion with four codperating churches. It was decided at 


17 Athearn, pp. 143-185. 

18 Malden Centre Week-Day Church Schools, 1923-1024. 

19 Interview with Rev. Mr. Nowlan, Gen. Secy. of the Mass. Sunday 
School Association. 


308 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


the beginning to affirm the complete separation of church 
and state. No use would be made of public school buildings 
and no public school credits would be sought. No appli- 
cation for public school time would be made until the school 
had standards and value which would warrant the public 
schools in excusing the pupils.2? The attendance has not 
been fully satisfactory when attempting to hold the classes 
on Wednesday after school hours and on Saturday morn- 
ing.2? At the Central Congregational church a week-day 
school has been run for two years on the same principles 
and it is believed that state recognition will be necessary to 
complete success.” No formal application for school time 
has been made, but there have been informal discussions 
with members of the school committee. It does not appear 
that the members are definitely opposed, and if all Protes- 
tant groups could unite and secure Jewish and Catholic 
cooperation it is possible that an application for school 
time might be granted. Superintendent Young is not 
strongly disposed against it, but believes it ought not to be 
necessary. Dr. Tomlinson, a former chairman of the com- 
mittee, was in favor of dismissing for certain hours.”* 

The Springfield rules provide that no excuses from school 
for music or dancing lessons shall be granted, and for other 
similar reasons authority to excuse is vested in the super- 
intendent. It is not the practice to grant them to attend 
religious education classes.”* 

In Boston no application for school time or credit has 
been made. A Joint Religious Education Committee of the 
Massachusetts Sunday School Association and the Federa- 
tion of Churches of Greater Boston has begun the study of the . 
problem of week-day religious education. This committee 
has as yet not come into codperation with the Orthodox 


20 First Annual Report of the Central Day School of Religion, 1923. 
21 Interview with L. Earl Jackson, Principal. 

22 Interview with Dr. Shepard Knapp, Pastor. 

23 Interview with Superintendent Young. 

24 Statement by the Superintendent. 


Attitude of Religious Groups 309 


Jews, Catholics, and Christian Scientists; but is aiming to 
get all into the program if possible. It is planned to take 
a survey of a solid district in regard to religious education 
and then use this as an argument.”° 

While no real effort to secure school time has yet been 
made in Massachusetts except in Malden, the report of a 
sub-committee of the Massachusetts State Sunday School 
Association expressed the following attitude: 

“While the securing of public school time is not necessary 
to a successful week-day school, it is nevertheless a de- 
sirable asset and should be obtained where possible.” *° 

The Association is making no attempt to get legislation 
on the subject, but is trying to build up interest in the 
churches on the subject and to secure properly trained 
teachers so that the quality of work in the schools will be 
up to the public school standard.?’ 

Up to the present, therefore, the new theories of church 
and state cooperation have caused no change in Massachu- 
setts practice. As Article XLVI does not prohibit religious 
instruction which is not denominational it does not appear 
that credit to undenominational community schools or work 
in them on school time would be a violation. 

An attempt has been made to discover how far the leaders 
in religious education, particularly in Massachusetts, desire 
to have the state in the future cooperate in their movement. 
That nothing in general is desired which is at all likely to 
break down the separation of church and state is apparent 
from these resolutions of the Religious Education Associa- 
tion: 

“Such a division of the child’s time as will allow oppor- 
tunity and strength for religious education should be reached 
by consultation between parents and public school authori- 
ties without formal agreement between the state and the 
churches as institutions. 


25 Statement by Executive Secretary, Rev. George L. Paine. 
26 Report of Sub-Committee on Week-Day Schools, April 4, 1923. 
27 Interview with Rev. Mr. Nowlan, Gen. Secy. 


310 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


The work of religious education and training should be 
done by such institutions as the home, the church, and the 
private school, and not by the public school nor in official 
connection with the public school.” ** 

The question as to whether the conditions of the week-day 
church-school with no religious education given directly in 
the public school might lead to Catholic codperation and an 
elimination of parochial schools has been tentatively an- 
swered by Dr. James H. Ryan of Oregon in a sympathetic 
article in the Catholic World. He regards the Protestant 
experiment as a sincere desire to supply a real defect in 
public education, and appears to favor the granting of public 
school credit. ‘He states that religious teaching by denomi- 
nations and other teaching by the state school has worked 
well in some countries, but that until religion is made the 
foundation of the public school curriculum, it is hardly con- 
ceivable that the church would give up its parochial school 
system.”® This is undoubtedly the attitude in Massachusetts 
as well as Oregon. 

The National Council of Jewish Women is opposed to 
Bible reading in the public schools and to the assumption 
of the work of religious education by the public school.*° 
Rabbi Harry Levi, a leading liberal Jew of Massachusetts, 
would prohibit the present Bible reading in the state and 
keep the state entirely free from any connection with reli- 
gious education, whether in the form of sharing public school 
time, giving credit for church-school work, allowing the use 
of school buildings to religious workers, or giving religious 
education directly.*t This may therefore be taken to repre- 
sent the general Jewish attitude. 

Rev. George L. Paine, Executive Secretary of the Federa- 
tion of Churches of Greater Boston, makes this statement: 

28 Henry F. Cope, The Week-Day Church-School (New York, 1921), 

pe araes 
‘ eames H. Ryan, A Protestant Experiment in Religious Education, 
in Catholic World, June, 1922, pp. 314-323. 

30 Letter from Mrs. Estelle M. Sternberger, Executive Secretary. 

81 Letter from Rabbi Harry Levi. 


Attitude of Religious Groups 311 


‘‘ Bible reading in the public schools is preferably optional 
so far as the state is concerned. While it should be cus- 
tomary, it should not be compulsory. Let the majority in a 
given community decide, and then if parents object to the 
children being present, excuse those children. Children 
should be excused from school for religious instruction 
either in denominational churches or in parish houses. 
School credit might be given where adequate instruction is 
given, preferably by certified teachers. 

‘“T have no objection to admitting on equal terms the 
clergy of all faiths to school buildings after school hours 
for religious education. The state would be justified in do- 
ing it for the moral results. Rent would probably have to 
be paid. It is proper for public school teachers to do the 
teaching there after school hours if they are prepared and 
willing, but it would be better to call on a non-teaching 
faculty. This instruction should be given on a voluntary 
rather than paid basis yet a while. There is, however, no 
objection to undenominational, scholarly rather than parti- 
san comment, to help in the understanding of passages, after 
the daily Bible reading, — provided the teacher has the 
knowledge.” *? 

The Congregational Education Society believes the dis- 
missal of pupils for religious education on request of parents 
or guardians does not violate the principle of separation of 
church and state, but advises no attempt to secure the privi- 
lege until the cooperation of public school officials has been 
won by demonstrated results. But it believes the use of pub- 
lic school buildings is an infringement on the separation of 
church and state and should be avoided. The employment 
of public teachers during public school hours is likewise dep- 
recated. Whether public school credit should be given is 
still an open question.** 

The question of religion in state schools is thus answered 
by Rev. Erwin L. Shaver, District Secretary of the Con- 


82 Statement by Rev. George L. Payne. 
88 Week-Day Religious Education (tract), (Boston, 1922), pp. 6, 7. 


B12 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


gregational Education Society, whose territory includes 
Massachusetts : 

“Tf one means by Religious Education the development 
of character in accordance with a religious ideal, then the 
state does give religious education. The ideal, however, 
which the state sets as its character goal is determined by 
vote of the majority of its citizens. The religious education 
of the state school system is therefore a character education 
on the plane of the average or commonly accepted commu- 
nity morality and only semi-Christian. Complete Chris- 
tian education can take place only under the direction of 
those institutions or schools which are free to set forth their 
ideals unhampered by the limitations of compromise as is 
necessary to democracy. Christian education at its best 
holds to an ideal not yet attained by the community at 
large and by constant effort gradually raises the level of the 
character education carried on by the state toward that 
ideal. For purposes of distinction, it is better to think of 
Christian education as the “ plus ” element which in a de- 
mocracy cannot and ought not to be taught by the state 
schools although the state does do a portion of religious 
education taken in a broad sense.” ** 

A carefully prepared statement by William I. Lawrance, 
Th. D., Secretary of the Department of Religious Education 
of the American Unitarian Association, though not an of- 
ficial statement of the Unitarian denomination, nevertheless 
sums up largely the attitude of Protestant groups at present. 
It follows: 

“There seems to be no reason why the Bible should not 
be read in the public schools, provided that the local senti- 
ment approves it with practical unanimity. Comments on 
the passages read should be omitted. There is slight chance 
that these would be edifying, and they might be of such 
character as to give offense to some. Clergymen should not 
be permitted to teach religion in public school buildings, 
either during school hours or at other times. 

84 Statement by Erwin L. Shaver, Jan. 5, 1924. 


Attitude of Religious Groups 313 


“Public school authorities may properly give credits for 
work done in week-day schools of religion that count toward 
promotion and graduation, provided always that upon care- 
ful examination they are satisfied that the teaching has been 
done by persons properly qualified and that the pupils have 
actually learned the subject matter presented. Attendance, 
behavior and effort should be required in all week-day 
schools of religion, that the standards established by public 
schools be not lowered. 

‘““ Pupils should be excused from public schools to attend 
week-day schools of religion only upon the written request 
of their parents or guardians. Pupils not so excused should 
not be carried forward in courses taken in common with 
those excused, as that would give them an unfair advantage 
in regard to promotion and graduation. Instead, courses 
in literature, history, story-telling, handwork and the like, 
aiming at preparation for effective living, might be given. 
In this way the week-day schools and the public schools 
would both be aiming, each in its own way, at the same end, 
the preparation of boys and girls for serviceable life in the 
Republic. If academic credits are given in the one case, 
they should also be given, and on similar terms, in the 
ppher/ie? 

The situation at the present time seems to be that no 
one desires the public schools as at present constituted to 
increase the amount of religious education. The Bible read- 
ing is objected to by some and nowhere strongly supported. 
Even where advocated there is no desire to make it com- 
pulsory and comment on the reading is not usually desired. 
Protestants and Jews alike usually object to the use of the 
school buildings for private religious teaching. Most Prot- 
estants think school time for church schools advisable but 
are more anxious to develop the character of the work in 
the schools. There is less unanimity on the question of 
school credit for this work and no strong demand for it. 


35 Statement of William I. Lawrance, Jan. 22, 1924. 


CHAPTER XIIT 
CONCLUSIONS 


THE early state promotion and direction of religious edu- 
cation in Massachusetts was the natural result of historical 
forces. The medieval union of church and education and of 
church and state had ‘been only partially removed by the 
Protestant Revolt. When the lay state became actually sov- 
ereign and superior to the church, it did not hesitate to use 
its force to promote religion; and in taking over the educa- 
tional function from the church it used it in part as a means 
of promoting religion. In all the European countries affect- 
ing Massachusetts, there was a definite policy of state co- 
operation to inculcate the accepted religion of the country 
through the schools. This was especially true of the 
countries where the church-state ideas of John Calvin were 
influential; and it was these ideas which largely determined 
the original church and state constitution of Massachusetts. 
The direct models of schools and texts came mainly from 
England, where the religious content was emphasized. 

In both the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies 
the government had a religious aim, with respect to their 
own inhabitants and with respect to the Indians. The Massa- 
chusetts Bay Company financed the religious establishment 
in part and later the colonial laws required support for the 
ministry. When church and state were considered simply 
two different administrations of the same body politic, it 
was logical for a public religious education to be required 
and supported by taxation. Though toleration was granted 
to all except Catholics in 1691, the principle of state sup- 
port of the locally established church was maintained until 
1833, with exemptions to Quakers, Baptists, and Episco- 
palians. | Ce 

314 


Conclusions 26 


While Plymouth was backward in educational matters, 
there was no objection to the principle of public schools in 
which religion was taught. In the Massachusetts Bay Colony 
the laws themselves indicated a chief purpose of compulsory 
schools, compulsory catechizing of all children, and control 
of the faith of teachers employed was religious. Education 
was to enable the individual to live a proper religious life 
and to train leaders in church as well as commonwealth. 
The local colonial practice shows that while the schools 
were not entirely supported by taxation and did not pro- 
vide free tuition to all, there was at least partial public sup- 
port and pupils too poor to pay tuition were provided for 
at the expense of the town. Religious education for all 
was enforced through the inspection of families by the 
selectmen and public catechizing by the minister. The evi- 
dence of contracts with teachers, regulations adopted by the 
towns, curricula, and textbooks shows a very strong re- 
ligious aim and large religious content in elementary and 
grammar schools, which were provided for the boys who 
attended. The attitude of the state to religious education 
also appears in many statements relative to Indian educa- 
tion and some grants from the treasury of the colony in its 
support. 

The original aim of Harvard College was distinctly re- 
ligious and this was one of the main reasons why the colonial 
government watched carefully its administration and pro- 
vided a measure of financial support. The curriculum and 
daily régime of the institution were religious, as befitted an 
educational training school for the ministry. The govern- 
ment took a direct hand in the religious quarrels as to the 
liberal or orthodox control of the institution, and as to the 
admission of Episcopalians to the Board of Overseers. In 
the project for the establishment of an interior college 
shortly before the Revolution, a religious reason was urged 
and considered by the government; but it is not clear that 
this was the cause of refusal to establish it. 

After the Revolution the new emphasis on the rights of 


316 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


man and political philosophy which marked the period of 
constitution making resulted in a gradual separation of the 
state from religious concerns and a gradual diminution of the 
religious content in the public schools. Religious equality 
took the place of religious toleration. But the towns were un- 
til 1833 required, unless they did it voluntarily, to provide at 
their expense public Protestant teachers of piety, religion, 
and morality. The town majority determined the type of 
religion to be supported. The work of these ministers was 
educational as well as the providing of public worship. Of- 
ficial statements of government officials favored this system, 
although ideas of the separation of the state from religion 
were growing. Religion in the public schools, now for girls 
as well as boys, continued in the form of devotional exer- 
cises, use of the Bible as a text for reading, religious material 
in textbooks, the study of the catechism and the public 
catechizing, frequently by the minister. The moral instruc- 
tion law of 1789 was secular rather than religious in point 
of view, but by requiring the teaching of piety it made pos- 
sible an interpretation to cover religious teaching. At this 
time the law did not require necessarily compulsory taxa- 
tion or compulsory attendance; so that theoretically re- 
ligious instruction was not forced upon pupils. In the 
texts used and the regulations issued there was after the 
Revolution a considerable decrease of the sectarian element 
and thereafter a steady decrease in the amount of any re- 
ligious material in the content. By 1827 the use of cate- 
chism, creeds, and hymns, and of most of the Biblical mate- 
rial had in the main disappeared and a morality based on 
religion had taken their place in the elementary schools. In 
the Latin Grammar Schools only the Greek Testament 
afforded religious content. In the revival of interest in 
schools of this period, sectarian books were prohibited. 
Hereafter all were taxed to support this non-sectarian re- 
ligious education of the school. 

In the development of the high school, it was customary to 
teach in the English departments a non-sectarian Christian- 


Conclusions 317 


ity, using such texts as Evidences of Christianity and Natu- 
ral Theology. This was a new element in the curriculum. 
After 1827 the elementary textbooks were unsectarian and 
the use of the catechism was exceedingly rare. Devotional 
exercises were briefer but generally continued. The Bible 
was still a reader used more extensively than any one substi- 
tute. Religious education was also promoted by incorpora- 
tion of societies partly for that purpose and by direct grants 
to private agencies, including Roman Catholic priests, for re- 
ligious education of Indians. Until 1837, then, the promo- 
tion of an unsectarian religious education was regarded as a 
state function. 

The academies were founded largely with a religious aim 
and purpose and were frequently denominational in control. 
The fact that they promoted religion was a reason for their 
free incorporation and for land grants in most cases until 
nearly 1820. After 1827 the policy changed to one of pro- 
moting common public schools, but not because the acade- 
mies taught religion. Their content came to be not widely 
different from the public high schools, but the religious at- 
mosphere was more marked, and there was more sectarian 
influence. 

Four colleges, all teaching a more or less sectarian re- 
ligion by general influence if not direct classroom instruction, 
received state aid during the period. The constitution of 
1780 specifically recognized the promotion of religion in 
Harvard and while religious influences in the institution 
diminished, the state continued to interest itself in the type 
of religious control. Williams was more distinctly religious 
and Calvinistic and received state patronage. The objection 
to chartering Amherst was not due to the teaching of strict 
Calvinism so much as the rivalry of Harvard at first and 
later of Williams, but the inclusion in the charter of the 
prohibition of a religious test and a provision for partial 
state supervision indicates a desire to make colleges defi- 
nitely public institutions and to prevent religious exclusive- 
ness. After 1825 the state patronage of colleges was di- 


318 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


verted to the benefit of common schools. This and a 
religious prejudice kept Amherst as the only college without 
state aid. 

Theological institutions did not receive state aid, but were 
incorporated, usually with a prohibition of religious tests. 

In the period from 1837-1855 the practice of 1837 was 
given a more definite constitutional and statutory basis 
after a period of active discussion which disclosed that the 
great majority wanted a non-sectarian Protestant recogni- 
tion of religion in the public schools and preferred a system 
of public schools to private parochial schools teaching re- 
ligion. The development of the state educational system 
under the dominating personality of Horace Mann gave a 
renewed emphasis on a religiously moral training in schools 
which were entirely free from sectarianism. Because this 
was jealously interpreted by some to mean the promotion 
of Unitarianism, if not deism and naturalism, there resulted 
an intermittent hostility to the system which Mann was 
trying 'to promote, though he had no direct legal authority 
over the actual curricula of the schools. -Bible reading, in- 
struction in Biblical morality, and in natural religion were 
favored by nearly all; those who would go beyond this and 
teach such specific doctrines as natural depravity and free 
grace were in the minority. Bible reading and teaching in 
the broad aspects of conduct in accord with Biblical princi- 
ples actually increased in the schools. The chief result of 
the controversies with Edward A. Newton and Matthew 
Hale Smith was to show how much religion there then was 
in the schools. Practically all denominational leaders ex- 
cept some Episcopalians and a few Congregationalists were 
satisfied to omit sectarian instruction. The Baptists be- 
cause of their fundamental principle of separation of church 
and state desired to omit it. After the accession of an ortho- 
dox leader who was a Baptist to the office of Secretary, the 
demand for sectarian instruction ceased. But the general 
attitude toward church and state was illogical. This actual 
promotion in the schools of a religious education which to 


Conclusions 319 


the Catholics was Protestantly sectarian while advocating 
in general a separation of church and state was a matter 
of expediency rather than logic. The increase of Catholics 
during the period demonstrated, especially in the Lowell 
experiment, that the point of view of the two groups was 
so different on the relation of church and state and on the 
religious element of education, that they could not agree 
upon the character of one common public school system. 
But the Lowell Plan did mark a definite attempt to compro- 
mise this difficulty so as to include Catholic schools in the 
public system without departing from its legal require- 
ments. The failure of this experiment and the development 
of parochial schools brought a Protestant desire, reinforced 
by the momentum of the Know Nothing movement, to 
make constitutionally impossible appropriations to parochial 
schools and to assert legally the Protestant religious char- 
acter of the public schools. Expediency rather than prin- 
ciple caused the prohibition to apply to common schools 
rather than to colleges and academies, and again to be based 
on the question of public administration rather than re- 
ligion, the real reason. The compulsory education law 
coupled with the Bible reading law made religion in the 
schools compulsory in a sense in which it had not been be- 
fore, but this could be avoided by attending private schools. 

The history of the relation of the state to higher institu- 
tions after 1837 until 1917 shows in general a tendency to 
separate from all administrative and financial relations with 
institutions which did not definitely become state institu- 
tions. Only a few academies succeeded in obtaining appro- 
priations, though refusals of others cannot be traced to the 
fact that they were denominational or taught religion. On 
the basis that endowed academies were not private schools, 
there was a possible authority of the state to direct them to 
some extent, but this did not actually affect the religious 
teaching.. When some of them became practically parts of 
the high school system the question of public administration 
gave more trouble under Amendment XVIII than the ques- 


320 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


tion of religion. In the case of Harvard for two decades the 
politics of the state were concerned with freeing it from 
Unitarian influence and making it a thoroughly public in- 
stitution, or with cutting it off entirely. There were no ap- 
propriations to it and in 1865 it was mutually agreed to 
sever all official relations. In 1849 the Catholic College of 
the Holy Cross was refused a charter by the General Court 
ostensibly because it would not accept a charter prohibiting 
a religious test for students, but in reality because it was 
then considered that a charter made it a public college, with 
a legitimate claim to public patronage and the stamp of ap- 
proval of the state on its religious teachings. The state was 
unwilling to grant this to a Jesuit college. Hereafter a re- 
ligious test was usually prohibited in college charters except 
in the case of theological institutions, in the case of faculties 
who were members of religious orders, or in cases where it 
was deemed unnecessary. There was support of institu- 
tions teaching religion, in the form of tax exemptions, state 
scholarships, and direct appropriations which became increas- 
ingly rare. But in the case of the Massachusetts Agricultural 
College it was made definitely a state institution and appro- 
priations continued. In the Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology and the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where 
the religious element was slight, appropriations continued to 
the end of the period as a support to technical education. 
After 1855 the public schools, including elementary, high, 
and normal schools soon dropped all religious content ex- 
cept the daily Bible reading and devotional exercises, for 
which there was strong local support, with the addition of 
moral instruction based on Christianity but not taught as re- 
ligion. The law permitted non-sectarian religious instruc- 
tion in the judgment of local committees, but they did not 
require it. The Bible reading law was modified at Catholic 
insistence so that no pupil could be compelled to read from 
any version if the parent objected, but attendance was re- 
quired unless the pupil secured his education elsewhere. At- 
tempts to secure the inspection of parochial schools failed 


Conclusions 321 


and requirements were simply made plain that the required 
subjects be taught in English and that proper returns of at- 
tendance be made to the public authorities. If the school 
was not approved by the school committee proof that the in- 
struction was adequate could be offered on trial. Hence 
there was absolutely no state relation to the teaching of re- 
ligion in these schools. The requirement of religious equal- 
ity in the choice of teachers was a further evidence of the 
secular character of the schools. 

The state never in principle opposed a religious educa- 
tion for its dependent, defective, or delinquent wards and in 
practice some was usually provided. Toward the end of the 
19th century provision was made for excusing from general 
exercises those who attended one of their own faith. Other- 
wise the exercises were compulsory. In placing dependent 
children and probationers, provision was made for putting 
them in homes of the same religious faith where practicable. 

The final settlement of the sectarian issue came because 
the Protestants feared the Catholics would in some way 
bring the parochial schools into the public school system so 
that they could secure public funds, or would secure funds 
for institutions not of common school grade. The Catholics 
thought it unfair not to have such appropriations when the 
policy of the state had been to permit them to colleges and 
academies. In the constitutional convention of 1917 some 
of the Catholics and the Jews united with the Protestants 
in prohibiting funds to all institutions not under public ad- 
ministration except some in the field of health and charity; 
and in prohibiting to any school whether under public or pri- 
vate control in which denominational doctrines were taught. 
Denominational instruction may now be given only to the 
wards of the state with their consent. Non-sectarian or un- 
denominational instruction is still possible but non-exist- 
ent in the public schools, although Bible reading continues. 

The denominational attitude with reference to the above 
status is that the Catholics consider all education a unified 
process which must be given in wholly Catholic schools, 


322 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


though they would be willing to admit state supervision of 
the secular education in their schools in return for state sup- 
port. The Jews would entirely separate church and state 
and remove the Bible and all other religious connections 
from the public schools. The Protestants are developing 
their own religious education in church schools but are dis- 
posed to cooperate with the public schools so long as the 
principle of separation of church and state is not violated. 
No excuses from school for religious education or credit for 
the same has become actual in Massachusetts and the re- 
ligious education leaders are not strongly urging it. Neither 
are they strongly insistent on the retention of the Bible 
reading law. The tendency is toward rather than away 
from a more logical application of the theory of the sepa- 
ration of church and state. 


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PRIMARY SOURCES 


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323 


324 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


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B. Town and City Documents 


An Account of the Expenses of the Town of Lowell for one year, 
ending Feb. 28, 1835. 

Address of the Mayor of the City of Lowell, to the City Council, 
Monday, Apr. 3, 1837. 

Annual Report of the Receipts and Expenditures of the City of 
Lowell, 1st—4th, 1837-1840. 

Annual Report of the School Committee of the City of Boston, 
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Annual Report of the School Committee of the Town of Leominster, 
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Annual Report of the School Committee of Lowell, 1838-1856. 

Annual Report of the School Committee of the Town of Medford, 
1869. 

Annual Report of the School Committee of the City of Newbury- 
port, 1856. 

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Catalogue of the Instructors and Scholars in the Latin and English 
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The Expenses of the Town of Lowell, for one year ending March 
I, 1836. 


326 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


Edson, Theodore, An Address delivered at the opening of the Col- 
burn Grammar School in Lowell, Dec. 13, 1848. 

Mann, Horace, An Oration delivered before the Authorities of the 
City of Boston, July 4, 1842. 

Proceedings of the School Committee of the Town of Boston re- 
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by the School Committee. May, 1832, and April, 1855. 

Regulations for the Public Schools of the Town of Salem. 1830. 

Regulations of the Public Schools, Cambridge, 1849. 

Regulations of the Public Schools in the City of Salem. Adopted 
1842. 

Regulations of the School Committee of Roxbury, March, 1845, 
May, 1847. 

Report of Committee on Classification of Schools, Boston, Nov. 
20,1331, 

Report of Committee on Regulations of the School Committee of 
Boston. City Document, 1833. 

Report of a Joint Committee of the City Council on the Public 
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Report of the School Committee of the City of Cambridge, 1848, 
1849. 

Report of the School Committee of Marblehead, 1860. 

Report of the School Committee of the Town of Grafton, 
I84I. 

Report of the School Committee of the Town of Leicester, for 
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Report of the School Committee of the Town of Newton, 1860- 
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Report of the School Committee of the Town of Waltham, 1856- 
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Report to the Committee of the City Council, appointed to obtain 
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Bibliography 227 


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Committee. 


C. Publications of Colleges, Academies, etc. 


An Account of Dummer Academy. Boston, 1837. 

Annual Catalogue of Officers and Members of the Mount Holyoke 
Female Seminary. 1837-1838 and 1867-1868. 

Annual Catalogue of the Officers and Students of South Reading 
Academy. 1831. 

Annual Catalogue of the Worcester County Free Institute of In- 
dustrial Science. 1870-1884. 

Catalogue of the Berkshire Gymnasium, 1830. 

Catalogue of the Corporation, Faculty and Students, Amherst Col- 
lege. Oct. 1826, 1858-1859, 1892-1893. 

Catalogue of the Instructors and Students in the Female Classical 
Seminary, Brookfield, Mass. 1826. 

Catalogue of the Officers and Members of Ipswich Female Seminary. 
18 30. 

Catalogue of the Officers and Students of the Collegiate Institution, 
Amherst, Mass., Oct. 1822. 


328 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Nichols Academy, Dudley, 
Mass. 1835. 

Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Tufts College. 1860- 
1861 and 1875-1876. 

Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Wesleyan Academy, 
Wilbraham, Mass. 1834. 

Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Westminster Academy, 
18 36. 

Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Williams College. 1823, 
1826, 1839-1840, 1858-1859, 1875-1876. 

Catalogue of the Teachers and Scholars of Lexington Boarding 
School and Private Academy, 1835-18 36. 

Catalogue of the Trustees, Instructors and Students of Amherst 
Academy. 1827, 1830. 

Catalogue of the Trustees, Instructors and Students of Fellenberg 
Academy, 1834. 

Catalogue of the Trustees, Instructors and Students of Groton 
Academy, 1837. 

Catalogue of the Trustees, Instructors and Students of Hopkins 
Academy, Hadley, Mass. 1826. 

Catalogue of the Trustees, Teachers and Students of New Salem 
Academy, 1840. 

Catalogue of Sanderson Academy 1829; with a statement of the 
Plan of Instruction. 

Constitution of the Society for Promoting Good Morals in Phillips 
Academy, Andover, Aug. 1813. 

Extracts from By-Laws of Westford Academy, relating to Govern- 
ment and Discipline thereof. 

First and Second Annual Reports of the Fellenberg Academy, 1834. 

Historical Notice of the Bridgewater Academy from its Foundation 
in 1700, to 1858. Boston, 1850. 

The Journal of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Dec. 1917. 

The Laws of Millbury Academy in Millbury, Mass.; enacted by the 
Board of Trustees. 1833. 

Memorial. Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Mt. Holyoke Female 
Semmary. South Hadley, 1862. 

Outline of the Plan of Education Pursued at the Greenfield High 
School for Young Ladies, with a Catalogue, 1828-1829. | 

Semi-Annual Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Franklin 
Academy at Shelburne Falls, Mass. 1833. 


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D. Textbooks 


Adams, Daniel, The Monitorial Reader, designed for the use of 
Academies and Schools; etc. Keene, 1830. 

Adams, Daniel, The Understanding Reader. Leominster, 1803. 

Barbauld, Anna Laetitia, The Female Speaker. Boston, 1824. 

Bingham, Caleb. The American Preceptor. 4th ed., Boston, 1797. 

Bingham, Caleb. The Young Lady’s Accidence. Boston, 1785. 

Butler, Frederick A. M., Sketches of Universal History, Sacred 
and Profane, from the Creation of the World, to the year 1818. 
Hartford, 1818. 

Butler, Joseph, The Analogy of Religion Natural and Revealed to 
the Constitution and Course of Nature. 3d Am. ed., Hartford, 
T8109. 

Cheever, Ezekiel, Latin Accidence. Revised from the 18th edition, 
Boston, 1838. 

The Child’s First Book. Title page missing. Later editions after 
1802. 

The Child’s Guide. 3d ed., Brookfield, 1831. 

The Columbian Spelling Book, and Children’s Friend. Providence, 
1819. 

Culman, Leonard, Sententiae Pueriles, Anglo-Latinae. Tr. into Eng- 
lish by Charles Hoole. Boston, 1723. 

Dilworth, Thomas, New Guide to the English Tongue. Title page 
missing. Later edition, Boston, 1782. 

Dixon, Henry, The English Instructor. Title page missing. 8th 
ed., Boston, 1746. 

Duncan, Henry, Sacred Philosophy of the Seasons; illustrating the 
Perfections of God in the Phenomena of the Year. Adapted to 
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18309. 

The Fourth Class Book. 2d ed., Brookfield, 1828. 

The Franklin Primer. Composed and published by a committee of 
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Hickok, Laurens P., A System of Moral Science. 3d ed., New 
York. 1874. 

Leavitt, Joshua, Easy Lessons in Reading, for the use of the younger 
classes in Common Schools. 7th ed., Keene, 1827. 


330 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


Maturinus Corderius, School-Colloquies. By Charles Hoole. Lon- 
don, 1676. Ed. edited by John Clarke, Worcester, 1801. 

Murray, Lindley, The English Reader. 3d Philadelphia ed., 1801. 

New American Spelling Book. Ed. by Isaiah Thomas, Worcester, 
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The New England Primer, Improved, to which is added, The As- 
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Nomenclatura Brevis per F. G. Boston, 1735. 

Olmstead, Denison, An Introduction to Natural Philosophy. New 
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Paley, William, Natural Theology or Evidences of the Existence 
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Paley, William, The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy. 
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Perry, W., The Only Sure Guide to the English Tongue. 10th 
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Pierpont, John. The National Reader. Boston, 1828. 

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Boston, 1685. 

Schoolmaster, J. F., The Child’s First Book, Drawn up for the Use 
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Scholar in Reading and Speaking with Propriety and Elegance and 
to impress the Minds of Youth with Sentiments of Virtue and 
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Temple, Samuel, The Child’s Assistant. Boston, undated, preface 
1800. 

Wayland, Francis, The Elements of Moral Science. New York, 
1835. 

Webster, Noah, The American Spelling Book. Boston, 1780. 

Webster, Noah, Part II of Grammatical Institute, Hartford, 1784. 

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E. Newspapers and Periodicals 


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XVI, XXX. 

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332 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


F. Miscellaneous 


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Chalkley, Thomas, Forcing a maintenance, not warrantable, from 
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The Common. School Controversy; consisting of three letters of the 
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334 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


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Mann, Horace, Lectures on Education. Boston, 1848. 

Mann, Horace, Letter to the Rev. Matthew Hale Smith, in answer 
to his “ Reply” or “ Supplement.” Boston, 1847. 

Mann, Horace, Life and Works. 5 v., edited by Mary T. Mann, 
Boston, 1801. 

Mann, Horace, Reply to the “ Remarks” of Thirty-One Boston 
Schoolmasters on the Seventh Annual Report. Boston, 1844. 
Mann, Horace, to Rev. Dr. Storrs of Braintree, Jan. 19, 18309. 

(Mans.) 

Mather, Cotton, Parentator. Memoirs of Remarkables in the Life 
and Death of the Ever-Memorable Dr. Increase Mather. Boston, 
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Mayo, A. D., Governor Butler vs. The Common Schools of Massa- 
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Memorial of the Trustees of Wiliams College, Dec. 24, 1823. 

Neal, Daniel, The history of New England containing an impartial 
account of the civil and ecclesiastical affairs of the country to 
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Old South Leaflet. No. 2009. 

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Peabody, Miss Elizabeth P., Peabody, Mrs. Palmer, and Mann, 
Mrs. Mary Peabody, Female Education in Massachusetts. July, 
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tion. 

Petition of the Founders and Proprietors of Amherst Institution, 
presented June 5, 1823. Boston, 1825. 

Price, Richard, Observations on the Importance of the American 
Revolution. London, 1784. Reprinted in Boston, 1784. 

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lished by the Free Religious Association of Boston. Boston, 
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Rejoinder to the “ Reply” of the Hon. Horace Mann, to the “ Re- 
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Remarks on the Seventh Annual Report of the Hon. Horace Mann, 
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Ryan, James H., A Protestant Experiment in Religious Education, 
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Smith, Matthew Hale, The Bible, the Rod, and Religion, in Com- 
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Stearns, William A., A Discourse on Educated Manhood, Preached 
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Substance of a Discussion in the Senate, on the Report of a Com- 
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American Statesman. Extra Sheet. 

Two Reports of the Faculty of Amherst College, to the Board of 
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Walsh, Louis S., Religious Education in the Public Schools of Massa- 
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Washburn, Alvan H., An Address delivered at the Dedication of the 

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Week-Day Religious Education (Tract). Boston, 1922. 


336 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


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Winthrop, John, A Journal of the Transactions and Occurrences, 
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Wright, Luther, Education. An Address delivered at Leicester 
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Bond, Henry, Genealogies of the Families and Descendants of the 
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Bowker, R. R., State Publications. (A bibliography of state docu- 
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Buck, Edward, Massachusetts Ecclesiastical Law. Revised, Bos- 
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Burnham, William H., Horace Mann, in School and Society, Sept., 
1921. 

Burns, James A., The Catholic School System in the United States. 
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Bush, George G., History of Higher Education in Massachusetts, 
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Clews, Elsie W., Educational Legislation and Administration of the 
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Contributions to the Ecclesiastical History of Essex County, Mass., 
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Conway, Katherine E., and Cameron, Mabel Ward, Charles Francis 
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Crooker, Joseph H., Religious Freedom in American Education. 
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Dana, Richard Henry, Biography. Edited by Charles Francis 
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Bibliography 337 


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Emerson, George B., Education in Massachusetts, Early Legisla- 
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338 Religious Education in Massachusetts 


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Waters, Wilson, History of Chelmsford, Mass. Lowell, 1917. 

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Will, Allen Sinclair, Life of Cardinal Gibbons. 2 v., New York, 
1923. 





INDEX 


Abandoned children, 
lected children 

Abbot, Francis E., 263 

Academic credit, see School credit 

Academies, 93, 99, II0-27, 145, 
153, 155; 166, 212-23, 251, 317; 
incorporation, 111-20, 212, 213, 
210,4250, 251, 13173 ,1and grants, 
133, 138, 139, 212, 218, 317; as 
public schools, 219-23. See also 
Appropriations 

Adams, John, 70-73, 77 

Adams, J. Q., 48 

Adams, Samuel, 114 

Adams v. Howe, 76 

Am. Insti. of Instruction, 143, 155 

Am. International College, 240 

American party, see Know-Noth- 
ings 

American Protective Asso., 
282, 285, 287 

Americanization, 201, 261 

Amherst Academy v. Cowles, 133 

Amherst College, 132-40, 145, 205, 
226, 220, 232, 233, 236, 243-45, 
244-49, 251, 317, 318 

Amherst (town), 248 

Anatolia College, 241 

Anderson, F. L., 287-94 

Andover, 202, 220, 221 

Apprentices, see Servants 

Appropriations, 262; for religion, 
108, 279, 282-84, 288, 289, 294, 
295; for education, 108, 283, 
284, 288, 289, 294, 295, 298; for 
academies, 116, 120, 205, 207, 
213-18, 246, 248, 251, 281, 283, 


see Neg- 


261, 


341 


284, 288, 289, 292-95, 319; for 
colleges, 138, 139, 204-7, 232, 
233, 242-44, 246-51, 281, 283, 
284, 288, 289, 294, 295, 319; for 
sectarian schools, 204—9, 211; for 
technical institutions, 250, 251, 
283, 284, 288, 289, 294, 295, 320. 
See also Support, public 

Ashburnham, 101 

Athearn, W. S., 306, 307 

Atlantic Union College, 241 


Bancroft, Geo., 180, 224 

Bank tax, 130, 138 

Baptists, 12, 19, 20, 22-24, 56, 61, 
62, 68-72, 75-78, 95, 97; 136, 
I4I, 154-57, 159, 160, 162, 164, 
165, 168, 171, 183, 184, 191, 199, 
204, 223-25, 248, 263, 265, 286, 
291, 292, 314, 318 

Barnes v. Falmouth, 76 

Batcheller, F. J., 284-87 

Battledores, 45 

Benton, J. H., 249 

Bernardston, 222 

Biblees 70,811, 02,0042 0s12 51 20. 
28, 39-41, 46-51, 56, 575 60, 61, 
80, 83, 84, 86-93, IOI, 103-7, 
109, 121-25, 128, 132, 145, 149- 
50, 152, 155-04, 166, 168-70, 
173-75, 178-82, 185-83, 193, 195, 
197-200, 202, 203, 207, 211, 214, 
217, 220, 234, 240, 245, 246, 248, 
256, 257, 262, 263, 270, 275-80, 
202551207, 300) 0320, 03075) S104 
compulsory reading, 209-11, 252— 
54, 256-60, 262, 264, 274, 290, 


342 


298, 301-4, 310-13, 319-22; 
Douay version, 157, 195, 206, 
234; King James version, 197, 
206, 210, 237; Leeser version, 
302 

Bible Normal College, 241 

Billerica, 38 

Blind, the, 280 

Board of Ed., state, 68, 80, 94, 96, 
107, 147-55, 158-70, 172-78, 210, 
214, 222, 242, 244, 247, 250, 252, 
255, 266, 268, 270, 271; creation, 
143-44; members, 143, 144, 168 

Books, 28, 49, 94-08, 140, 147, 148, 
158, 168. See also Textbooks 

Boston, 31-33, 36, 54, 69, 75, 80, 
83, 84, 86, 93, 100-3, 127, 130, 
157, 158, 163, 168, 187, 189, 202, 
238, 253, 254, 257, 258, 262, 263, 
271, 273, 286, 294, 300, 308 

Boston College, 238, 242, 258 

Boston Latin School, 7, 40-43, 84, 
93, 253 

Boston University, 240, 249, 250 

Boutwell, G. S., 203; Secy. of Bd. 
of Ed., 255, 256, 258, 261 

Bowdoin, 127, 138, 226, 246 

Boxford, 202 

Braintree, 36 

Briggs, G. N., 1609, 204, 207, 229 

Bristol, 22 

Brockton, 296 

Brookfield, 104 

Brooks, Phillips, 303 

Buckland, 220 

Buildings, school, 187, 188; use of, 
242, 273, 282, 283, 304, 308, 310—- 
13 

Burns, J. A., 301 

Bushnell, Horace, 152 

Butler, B. F., 191, 207 


Calvinism, 2, 4, 5, 10, 11, 40, 46, 
47; 53) 56, 61, 62, 64-07, 81, 92, 


INDEX 


1X2, 113,121,122, 125-120 9042, 
135-41, 144, 147, 162, 163, 203, 
223, 229, 243, 246, 314, 317 

Cambridge, 36, 37, 54, 127, 185, 
187, 255 

Cambridge Platform, see Creed 

Carter, J. G., 93, 94, 99, 120, 142, 
144 

Catechism, 4, 5, 7-9, 15, 26, 27, 29, 
2, 30-40, 44-47, 49, 50, 57, 72, 
80, 84-88, 92, 93, 95, 98, 104, 
107, 109, 132, 137, 150, 162, 164, 
181, 190, 192, 200, 239, 245, 300, 
315-17 

Catholics, 18, 46, 68, 70-72, 75, 
77, 78, 98, 108, 142, 145, 157, 
159-61, 164, 168, 176, 183, 188, 
201, 205-I1, 225, 232-38, 248, 
251, 252, 257-79, 278, 279, 281, 
282, 284-87, 289-94, 207, 304-0, 
314, 317, 319-21; early schools, 
189-204; history of attitude, 
299-302; present attitude, 310. 
See also Parochial schools; Bos- 
ton College, Holy Cross 

Chalkley, Thomas, 19, 20 

Charity, 183, 189, 275, 276, 278- 
80, 284, 288, 291, 295, 207, 321 

Charlestown, 34, 36, 54, 104, 127, 
189-91 

Charter, Plymouth, 10; of 1628, 
13, SO> Of. 7607, 18,21, s20unse, 
69 

Cheever, Ezekiel, 40-42 

Chelmsford, 39, 69 

Chelsea, 176 

Christian Scientists, 297, 307, 300 

Churches, building of, 31 

Church and _ state, attitude of 
Christ, 1; medieval, 2; reforma- 
tion, 2, 3; in colonial Mass., 1o- 
24; after 1780, 68-70, 145, 155, 
161, 165, 166, 177, 182, 183, 184, 
200, 202, 200, 210, 215, 226, 234, 


INDEX 


262-66, 285, 291, 292, 298, 314, 
315, 318, 319; codperation in rel. 
ed., 299-313, 322 

Clark University, 240 

Clergy, 276; influence of, 1, 5-7, 
II, 13-15, 30, 40, 82-34, 94, 97; 
99, 100, 143, 148, 163, 164, 167, 
170, 179, 180, 192, 193, 195, 203, 
209, 270; support of, 15-24, 29, 
31, 71-72, 76, 77, 79, 109; as 
teachers, 15, 26, 30, 38-40, 71, 
72, 79, 82, 85, 86, 167, 168, 200, 
304, 310, 311, 315, 316 

Coe, G. A., 304, 305 

Coéducation, 113, 117, 123, 124 

Colleges, 18, 28, 55, 66, 67, 81, I10, 
II§, 127-40, 135, 211, 214-19, 
220, 223, 228-34, 238, 242, 244, 
250, 281, 315. See also Appro- 
priations; also mames of col- 
leges 

Committees, school, 94, 98, 99, 147, 
153, 155, 163, 166, 170, 171, 176, 
180, 185, 187, 193, 196, 197, 203, 
206, 210, 252, 255, 258-61, 265— 
68, 270-74, 295, 296, 320, 321 

Common schools, see Public schools 

Commonwealth v. Frank Roberts, 
268 : 

Commonwealth v. Inhabitants of 
Dedham, 100 

Compulsory attendance, 27, 30, 82, 
154; law, 196, 197, 202, 258, 260, 
261, 207-70, 274, 297, 316, 319, 
321 

Compulsory religious ed., 27, 30, 
31, 82, 202, 260, 274, 314-16, 319 

Compulsory schools, 27, 30, 31, 39, 
82, 100, 179, 198, 315 

Compulsory taxation, 98, 316 

Compulsory worship, 12, 13, 24, 
60, 71, 74, 75, 77-79, 122-25, 
136, 227, 245, 246, 248, 279, 207 

Congregationalists, 20, 21, 24, 58- 


343 


60, 62-66, 69, 72, 75-77, 95-97, 
123, 127-30, 132, 133, 136, 143, 
148-50, 152, 157, 161-64, 168, 
7 ELIF, 27 Ost hy 75.2 Oly SOA ait) 
220, 223-26, 242, 248, 261, 286, 
292, 308, 318; present attitude, 
iT, 3%2 

Constitution, 69-74, 76-79, 127, 
E30, 100375, 0164, 105128355227, 
928, 236, 2591-204..2 7 2,12039 315; 
Amendment XVIII, 204-9, 211, 
220-23, 247, 248, 251, 273, 281, 
282, 284, 288, 319; proposed sec- 
tarian amendment, 282-87, 289- 
91; Amendment XLVI, 288-95; 
effects of last, 295-98, 309 

Constitutional conventions, 1780, 
70-73; 1820, 76-78, 130; 1853, 
203-8, 227-29; 1917, 285-94, 321 

Content, moral, 149, 155, 159, 160, 
178, 182, 184-88, 210, 211, 252- 
555 262, 263, 271, 272, 274, 312, 
316, 318, 320; religious, 37, 41- 
59, 82-93, 96-98, IOI—7, 100, 115, 
262; academies, 121-27, 214, 217, 
218, 223; Catholic schools, 190, 
194-97, 270, 296, 299; colleges, 
129, 130, 132, 136, 137, 235, 238— 
40, 245, 246; public schools, 149- 
5I, 154-56, 158-60, 166-71, 173, 
177-82, 187, 188, 200, 203, 210, 
211, 220, 237, 252-57, 259, 270, 
271, 274, 291, 296, 310, 312, 313, 
315, 316, 318, 320; technical in- 
stitutions, 250, 251. See also 
Bible; Creed; Purpose, religious; 
Textbooks 

Cook, Rev. Joseph, 265 

Cotton, John, 11, 12, 15, 47 

Creed, 4, 6, 9, 14, 45, 47, 48, 50, 
88, 90, 93, 141, 146, 147, 140, 
163, 164, 171, 184, 198, 225, 316 

Crime, 175, 196, 202, 255 

Crooker, J. H., 302, 303 


344 


Cross, F. W., 284, 285 

Cummings, J. W., 290, 291, 293 

Cummington, 256 

Curriculum, see Harvard; Acad- 
emies; etc. 

Curtis, Mr., 290, 291, 294 

Cushing, G. D., 287, 290 


Daly (Ce. 236 

Dame schools, 31, 80, 271 

Dartmouth (town), 20 

Dartmouth College decision, 108, 
I2Q, 228, 229 

Deaf, the, 279, 280 

Dedham, 31, 35, 100 

Deists, 71,°81, 103, 137, 142, 146, 
TOL, OAM 160, (174 1655) 200s oko 

Democracy, III, II4, 120, 127, 
181-83, 197, 200, 215, 223, 226, 
228-30, 261, 2909 

Democracy, direct, 285, 286 

Democrats, 77, 135, 144, 203, 208, 
223, 225, 226, 229, 286 

Dependents, 6, 8, 32, 275, 276, 321. 
See also Paupers _ 

Dickinson, J. W., 260, 265, 271, 
272 

Districts, school, 83, 142, 150, 155, 
158, 161, 169, 179, 192 

Doctrine, 28, 62, 95-97, 107, 109, 
112, 122, 147, 148, 150, 157, 159— 
61, 164, 165, 169, 171-73, 192, 
197, 237, 239, 249, 250, 272, 281, 
288, 305, 318, 321 

Donnelly, C. F., 265 

Dorchester, 33, 36, 44, 54, 80, 95, 
127 

Douay version, see Bible 

Dumb, the, 280 

Dummer Charity School, 111 

Dutch education, 4, 5, 27 

Dwight, Edmund, 143 


Easton, 257 


INDEX 


Edgartown, 104 

Education, a unity, 237, 300-2, 
304, 305 

Edwards, Jonathan, 65, 128 

Elementary schools, 44-50, 82, 83, 
93, IOO, 103-7, II4, I40, 145, 
220, 230, 235, 243, 315, 316. 

Eliot, John, 50 

Eliot, Pres., 266 

Elizabethan Poor Law, 6, 27, 31, 
275 

Emmanuel College, 241, 242 

Employment certificate, 198 

English education, 6-9, 27, 150, 
162, 179-81, 314 

Episcopalians, 19-24, 58, 59, 61-64, 
68, 75, 77, 95-97, 128, 137, 144, 
148, 156, 157, 150-66, 168, 171- 
73, 176, 177, 180, 182, 189, 199, 
200, 211, 220, 224, 225. 245, 9252, 
290, 2907, 303, 314, 315, 318 

Established church, 19, 21, 204, 
282-84, 314, 316 

Ethics, 147, 152, 271, 274, 301 

Euphrates College, 241 

Everett, Edward, 143, 147, 180, 
226, 244 


Fall River, 202, 296 

Faribault plan, 300, 304 

Federalists, 77 

Female seminaries, 124, 125 

Fenwick, Bishop, 189-93, 231 

First aid, 271 

Foxborough, ror 

Framingham, 219 

Free Religious Asso., 262-64 

Free schools, 4, 5, 7, 8, 25, 27, 32- 
35, 37, 179, 181, 198, 209 

Free Soil party, 203, 208, 209, 229 

French education, 306 

French Protestant College, 241 


Gardiner, Henry J., 209, 210, 275 


INDEX 


Gary plan, 306 

German education, 3, 4, 305. See 
also Luther 

Gibbons, Cardinal, 262, 299 

Girard Case, 159 

Girls, 37, 50, 80, 83, 84, 92, 100-3, 
190, 217, 218, 240, 252, 254, 316 

Gordon College, 241 

Graduates (college), 247 

Grafton, 155 

Grammar schools, 5, 7, 25, 27, 30, 
31, 33-36, 82-84, 93, 100, Io1, 
103, I14, 195, 196, 220, 252, 254, 
315. See also Latin Grammar 
Schools 

Grant, Pres., 262, 263, 302, 303 

Great Barrington, 24 

Greek Testament, 40, 93, 102, 126, 
134, 137, 188, 245, 253, 255, 316 

Greeley plan, 306 

Groton, 219 


Hale, E. E., 183 

Hall, G. S., 305 

Hancock, John, 114 

Hanson, F. L., 282 

Harvard, colonial, 18, 28, 53-67, 
315; state, 73, 114, 127-31, 133, 
135, 140, 181, 214, 216, 294, 317; 
appropriations, 54, 60, 65, 127, 
138, 243, 246, 250, 290, 320; 
Corporation, 54, 58-60, 62, 66, 
127-31, 224, 225, 227-30, 244; 
curriculum, 56, 57, 131, 245, 315; 
Indians at, 51-52; Overseers, 54, 
57-63, 66, 67; III, 127-31, 140, 
223-30, 315; regulations, 56, 57; 
separation from state, 223-31, 
249, 251, 320 

Harvard, Rev. John, 53, 228 

Haverhill, 267, 206 

Haynes, Rev. E. J., 265 

Hebrew, 57, 61, 65, 128 

Henry VIII, 6, 46, 164 


345 


High Schools, 84, 93, 99-103, I10, 
1547195, 213,,254,/220,; 221, 242, 
252-55, 271, 316, 317, 310, 320; 
academies substituted, 219~23 

Hitchcock, Edw., 182 | 

Holbrook v. Holbrook et al., 78, 79 

Holy Cross, 189, 205, 207, 251, 
283; incorporation, 231-38, 240, 
242, 320 

Home education, 26, 27, 29, 30, 37, 
82, 145, 155, 156, 167, 180, 181, 
201, 215, 300 

Hornbook, 8, 9, 45 

Hughes, Bishop, 199 

Humphrey, Heman, 135, 145, 149, 
155, 168, 169, 173 

Hymns, see Music 


Incorporated institutions, 
108, 235, 236, 242, 317. 
Colleges; Academies 

Indian education, 50-52, 
107-9, 132, 314, 315, 317 

Ipswich, 35; 37-38, 70, 85, 101, 
256, 257 

Ireland, Archbishop, 300 


107, 
See also 


98-99, 


Jackson College, 241 

Jamrock, Kate, 278, 279 

Jenkins v. Inhabitants 
dover, 220 

Jesuits, 189, 231, 235, 236, 238, 
239, 320 

Jews, 79, 98, 134, 157, 164, 232, 
263, 287, 291-94, 2907, 304-9, 321, 
322; present attitude, 302, 310, 
311, 313 


of An- 


King James version, see Bible 
Know-Nothings, 188, 197, 209, 210, 
319 


Lancaster, 241 
Lanesborough, 101, 257 


346 


Lanesborough v. Curtis, 99 

Land grants, clergy, 19; Latin 
Grammar Schools, 36; Indians, 
52; colleges, 54, 133, 138, 239; 
academies, 115-21, 212, 214, 216, 
218 

Latin Grammar Schools, 7, 33-36, 
40-44, 82-83, 93, 99, 102, I10, 
2520072533 207 ato ee aso 
Boston Latin School 

Lawrance, Dr. W. I., 312, 313 

Lawrence, 258 

Lawrence, Bishop, 290 

Laws, school, 1647, 27, 80; 1654, 
28; 1789, 28, 80-83, 146, 160, 
166, 179, 184, 254, 259; 1827, 93- 
100, 103, 104, 109, 120, 142, 146— 
5I, 153, 154, 160-62, 188, 193, 
200,210) 210, 282.) See Vaso 
Compulsory attendance; Com- 
pulsory schools; Bible reading 

Leeser version, see Bible 

Leicester, 37 

Lenox, 256 

Leo XIII, Encyclical, 300 

Leominster, 101, 253 

Levi, Rabbi Harry, 302, 303, 310 

Libraries, 142, 146-48, 150, 151, 
153, 158, 162, 169, 250 

Licenses, see Teachers, qualifica- 
tions 

Locke, John, 9, 68 

Lomasney, Mr., 284-87, 292, 293 

Longfellow, H. W., 181 

Longs e207 

Lovell v. Byfield, 76 

Lowell, 101, 102, (187,273,275; 
Catholic school experiment, 191- 
99, 201, 202, 204, 281, 301, 319 

Lowell, Pres., 290 

Luce, Robert, 286 

Luther, 3, 27, 53, 162 

Lutherans, 24, 305 

Lyon, Mary, 125 


INDEX 


Maine, 20, 98, 115, 116, 127, 138, 
217 

Malden, 14 

Malden plan, 306, 307 

Mancovitz, David, 287 

Mann, Horace, 95-97, 107, 196, 
199, 237, 277, 318; as Secretary, 
144-52, 154, 156; controversies, 
158-74; theories, 174-84; in 
Congress, 177 

Marblehead, 21, 101, 104, 220, 253 

Massachusetts Agr. College, 239, 
240, 247-49, 251 
Bay Company, II, 13, 14, 26, 45, 
51; purpose of, 13, 14, 26, 50, 
314 
College of Osteopathy, 241 

Mather, Cotton, 8, 21, 41, 43, 57, 
58 

Mather, Increase, 18, 58-60 

Mayflower Compact, 10 

McQuaid, Bishop, 263 

Medford, 101, 246, 254 

Medieval education, 1, 6, 189, 314 

Merrick v. Inhabitants of Am- 
herst, 248 

Methodists, 75-77, 95, 97, 156, 157; 
162, 164, 171, 204; 234, 216) 225, 
230, 248, 240, 263, 286, 292, 304 

Minute Men, 286, 287, 292 

Monson, 257 

Montague, 68 

Mt. Holyoke, academy, 125, 217; 
college, 241, 250 

Museum of Comp. Anatomy, 246, 
247 

Music, 40, 51, 61, 85-87, 105, 121— 
23, I9I, 214, 254, 271, 202, 302, 
305, 316 


Nash, H. S., 282 

Neglected children, 29, 30, 
278, 279, 290, 291, 297, 298 

New Bedford, tor, 148, 186, 187 


145, 


INDEX 


Newbury, 17, 21 

Newburyport, ror, 102, 104, 252 

New Eng. Confed., 51, 55 
Primer, 46, 87, 89, 92 

Newton, Io1, 253 

Newton, E. A., 95-07, 148, 150, 
162-66, 168, 303, 318 

New York, 142, 157, 189, 199, 282 

Normal Schools, 93, 120, 143, 144, 
149, 152, 153, 155, 162, 164, 166, 
170-74, 176, 183, 184, 205, 213, 
214, 216, 242-44, 252, 320; cur- 
riculum, 183, 184, 252 

Northampton, 80, 1o1, 234, 240 

Northeastern University, 241 

Nova Scotia, 29 

Nuns, 187, 189, 197, 202, 204, 281, 
300 


Paine, Rev. G. L., 310, 311 

Packard, F. A., 147-49, 158, 173, 
211 

Parents, 145, 153, 156, 176, 178, 
179, 190, 199, 201, 236, 259, 260, 
262, 264, 266, 268, 304, 320 

Parochial schools, 176-78, 193, 
199-203, 206, 258, 318; Catho- 
lic, 189-91, 197-201, 206-9, 211, 
237, 264, 269, 270, 274, 281, 292, 
293, 295-07, 300, 302, 310, 319, 
321; inspection, 260, 261, 265— 
70, 320 

Paupers, 274-75, 279 

Penycook, 31 

Phillips Academy, 111, 121, 141 

Phillips Academy v. King, 112, 113 

Pittsfield, 95 

Plymouth, charter, 10, 29; support 
of clergy, 17; colonial ed., 25, 
290, 36, 55, 314, 315; ed. after 
1780, IOI, 253 

Prayer, 4) 6, 7, 9, 41, 42, 44-50, 57, 
60, 61, 83, 84, 9O-92, 103, 105, 
109, 121-23, 131, 132, 134, 156, 


347 


177, 185, 186, 188, 191, 193, 195, 
197, 198, 202, 207, 220, 227, 245, 
246, 254-57, 274, 277, 278, 296, 
302; compulsory, 259 

Presbyterians, 133, 156, 157, 162, 
176, 199-201 

Prescott, W. H., 180 

Primary school, see Elementary 
school 

Primer, 6, 8, 9, 45-47, 49, 50, 86- 
38, 92 

Prisoners, 276, 279, 200, 291, 297, 
321 

Private schools, 34, 83, 84, 94, III, 
192, 198, 219, 220, 236, 250, 252, 


200; 62050200) 820752 74410: 
definition, 220-22; supervision, 
PLO W2ET 21057240, 2200; 2202; 
265-70. See also Parochial 


schools; Academies 

Progressives, 285 

Protestant Tutor, 45 

Psalms, Psalter, see Bible 

Public school, 142, 143, 196, 197, 
200, (205—7,;' 211,210, -228;7 236, 
242-44, 246, 248, 251, 252, 255, 
264, 266, 274, 281, 284, 292, 295, 
298, 317-21; definition, 220-22 

Punchard Free School, 220, 221 

Purpose, of education, civic, 73, 
100, 143, 166, 176, 203, 211, 242, 
264, 265; moral, 28, 34, 47-49, 
73, 31, 85, 88-94, 106, 115, 139, 
143, 144, 146, 164, 167, 174, 175, 
177, 179-81, 185, 186, 215, 256, 
257, 264, 301, 316; religious, 
academies, 110-15, 120, 121, 217, 
218; colleges, 127, 132-34, 136, 
PERT Vir Rit bree Weg kis, Mog aiblalite 
schools, I, 3-9, 26-30, Rak tee kate 
40-44, 48-SI, 53-60, 63, 66, 67, 
73, 94, 100, 139, 143, 145, 146, 
150-52, 176-81, 185, 215, 242, 
243, 301, 315 


348 


Quakers, 19, 20, 22-24, 28, 68, 
75-77, 100, 181, 210, 314 

Quincy, 254 

Quincy, Josiah, 130, 223 


Radcliffe College, 240 

Randolph, 1o1 

Readers, see Textbooks 

Reform schools, 277, 278, 297 

Regulations, school, 193, 211, 210, 
252-55, 259, 316 

Religious environment, 28, 94, 121- 
Ze EGO TSI NGS AN LOS. Looe ge 
217, 231, 244-47, 255, 277, 278, 
300, 317 
equality, 71, 72, 316 
freedom {70} 0) 759) 7'7, §182)4/ 248, 
279, 280, 282-84, 288-90, 294, 
295, 207, 208, 321 
test, 7, 56, 59 61-65, I12, 120, 
12337028, 120,236, MEAOsWiEASS 
164, 214, 217, 229, 231-34, 236, 
238-42, 251, 272, 273, 317, 318, 
320 

Roxbury, 33, 36, 50, 54, 85, 127, 
186,252; 253,267 

Rutland, 31 

Ryany Dry Haste 


Salem, 34, 36, 38, 101-4, 186, 187 
Savage, Rev. M. J., 262 
Scholarships, state, 139, 242, 247, 
248, 320 
School contracts, 32, 34-36 
credit for rel. ed., 305-8, 310, 
311, 313, 322 
funds, 98, 99, 108, 131, 133, 134, 
LA2 172 \2OAW2TAVOIO 25 7. 1200; 
221, 243, 244, 246, 247 
of Religious Ed., 306 
time for rel. ed., 305-11, 313, 322 
Schurman, J. G., 304 
Schwickerath, Robt., 301 
Scituate, 101 


INDEX 


Scotch education, 5, 6, 27 

Scriptures, see Bible 

Sears, Barnas, 154, 155, 168; as 
Secretary, 183-85, 202, 203 

Secretary, state, 143, 215, 222, 271, 
318; Mann, 144-52, 154, 156, 
158-84, 211, 318; Sears, 154, 
183-85, 202, 203; Boutwell, 255, 
256, 258, 261; Dickinson, 260, 
265, 271, 272 

Sectarian instruction, 85, 94-08, 
103, 104, 106, 107, 109, 120, 124, 
126,127, 120, 135, F40; 142.540— 
53, 154, 156, 157, 159, 160-67, 
169-71, 174-85, 187, 191-93, 
197-201, 203, 205-II, 216, 220— 
23, 237, 252, 255-58, 263, 270- 
72, 274, 281, 282, 290, 291, 295, 
302, 304, 316-21; colleges, 224, 
226, 228, 230, 232, 234, 235, 2390, 
240, 243, 246, 250, 251, 298 

Servants, 6, 8, 15, 27, 31, 37; 38, 
277, 278 

Sewing, 271 

Shaver, Rev. E. L., 311, 312 

Shelburne, 220 

Silk culture, 124 

Simmons Female College, 241 

Smith, M. H., 168-74, 318 

Smith College, 240 

Society for the Propagation of the 
Gospel, 52, 63, 107, 108 

Somerville, 246 

South Hadley, 68 

Sparks, Jared, 143, 181 

Spellers, 47-50, 86-89, 148 

Springfield, 36, 37, 101%, 241, 206, 
308 

Strong, Caleb, 114 

Sudbury, 17, 39 

Sumner, Chas., 203 

Sunday School Asso., 308, 309 

Sunday Schools, 84, 90, 134, 145, 
147, 155, 156, 165, 167, 168, 180, 


INDEX 


181, 187, 201, 273, 275, 276, 298, 
301, 303, 307 

Supervision, state, 82, 142, 210, 
225, 200, 263, 274, 299, 302, 322; 
of colleges, 229, 233, 317 

Support of ed., private, 27, 33, 35, 
36, 53, 55, 111-13, 115, 131, 133, 
228, 237, 315; public, 25, 26, 31- 
37, 40, 53, 54, 56, 65, 66, 68, 109, 
PIs veims Lely £20,527, 132,135; 
137-40, 142, 155, 212-14, 218, 
219, 228, 229, 234, 238, 239, 247, 
249, 250, 251, 279, 315, 317, 318; 
public, for private rel. ed., 189- 
93, 197, 199, 203-9, 220-23, 235, 
220, 202, 204,273, 281,'252, 255, 
288, 290, 293, 295, 299, 301, 319- 
21. See also Taxation; Colleges; 
Academies 

Sweden, 99 


Taunton, 254 

Taxation, 283; for education, 5, 6, 
30-33, 35, 37, 82, 83, 98-100, 
109, 142, 164, 178, 204-7, 216, 
228, 264, 293, 314-16; for reli- 
gion, 15-24, 68, 69, 7 ta esd 
79, 100, 157; 178, 266, 270; €X- 


emptions, 218, 219, 242, 262, 
Op3,1) 204,205; 9320. . ee, also 
Bank Tax 

Teachers, Catholic, 192-97, 299. 


See also Nuns; Jesuits 

Teachers, qualifications of, 4-7, 28, 
30, 34, 40, 80, 83, 94, 99, I00, 
156, 175, 180, 181, 192, 193, 198, 
210, 216, 260, 272, 299, 304, 315; 
rel. belief of, 272-74, 287, 321 

Technical schools, 250, 251, 287, 
288, 292, 320. See also Appro- 
priations 

Templeton, 185 

Testament, see Bible 


Textbooks, 7, 32, 86-93, 


40-51, 


349 
IOI-7, 109, I21, 125, 126, 134, 
137, I5I, 187, 188, 193, 211, 
214, 217, 227; 245, 246, 296, 
S15=27 


Theological Institutions, 110, 112, 
T13, 140, 183, 225, 226, 230, 233, 
236, 238, 239, 241, 242, 244, 249, 
318, 320 

Theology, 61, 65, 66, 96, 112, 113, 
128, 130, 135, 137, 151, 231 

Third Plenary Council, 264 

Thomas, Isaiah, 43, 88, 89 

Ticknor, Geo., 181 

Tiverton, 20 

Toleration, 18, 58, 64, 66, 68, 70, 
72, 314, 316 

Tufts College, 238, 246, 247, 250 

Tuition, payment by town, 221, 
222.205 

Twistleton, Hon. Edw., 179-81 


Uniformity of belief, 14, 28, 31, 
178, 236 

Unitarians, 65, 85, 95-97, 128, 132, 
135, 136, 142-44, 146, 147, 157, 
162-64, 170, 171, 173, 176, 199; 
203, 204, 211, 214, 223-26, 230, 
251, 262, 292, 302, 303, 318, 320; 
present attitude, 312, 313 

Universalists09 7.0.39 tba. a Te oe 
163,105; 100;(1 75. 372.0224, 225% 
238, 246 

Ursuline Convent, 189-91, 231 


Vacation schools, 305, 307 


Walsh, Rev. L. S., 270, 300 
Waltham, ror, 253 

Washburn, Emory, 208 
Watertown, 13, 16, 35, 38, 54, 127 
Wayland, 202 

Webster (town), 87 

Webster, Daniel, 130, 159, 180 
Webster, Noah, 88, 89 


350 


Week-day church 
305-10, 313 

Wellesley College, 240 

Wenner plan, 306 

Wesleyan Academy v. Inhabitants 
of Wilbraham, 219 

Westminster Confession, see Creed 

Wheaton College, 241 

Whig; 143, 144, 203, 207-9 

Wilbraham, 216, 219 

Williams, Archbishop, 265, 300 

Williams College, 131-40, 143, 226, 


schools, 302, 


INDEX 


229, 232, 233, 236, 243, 245-47, 
249, 317 

Williamstown, 131 

Winthrop, Governor, 11 

Woburn, 259 

Worcester, 95, 101, 185, 187, 205, 
240, 256, 266, 296, 307, 308 

Working certificate, 199 

Writing school, 33, 82 


Yale, 65, 226 


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